Skinny Love
by romanticangel92
Summary: In a world where Rachel went to Carmel and not McKinley, she is the lead of Vocal Adrenaline and the rival of Finn and the New Directions. What happens when she is forced to hitch a ride with Finn and a forbidden romance unfolds between the two of them?
1. Chapter One : Living Seperate Lives

**AN: Okay so I ship just about every couple in glee but my heart is mostly with Finchel (when the writers aren't messing me about with that stupid Quinn/Finn/Rachel triangle, lol) and this is my first attempt at writing one with them as the central pairing. I've written a Puckleberry, Quick and a St Berry story before but I'm happy that I've been in kind of the mood to write for Finchel lately. Hope you like!**

**Oh and there is some St Berry in this but rest assured they are not end game in this story, lol.**

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

All of her life Rachel Berry had only dreamt of one thing and that was Broadway.

She had the talent and the enthusiasm for it – she was destined to be on that stage and having leads in productions such as Les Miserable's, West Side Story and most importantly, Wicked. That was her dream, she was going to be a star and nothing was going to get in her way so from an early age of four she began to take up lessons such as dance and acting as well as persuading her dads to get her a vocal coach.

They were fully supportive of her dreams and they were willing to do whatever it took to help her fulfil them. So what if some people accused them of spoiling her and so what if people accused her of being a self centred diva. That was the cost of doing whatever it took to make her dreams come true and to actually get out of Lima, Ohio, her hometown unlike all the other losers that called her a diva that were going to be stuck there their entire lives.

Rachel Barbra Berry was destined for greatness and so deciding that she needed to take another step further into making her dreams a reality she managed to persuade her dads to allow her to attend Carmel High School instead of McKinley High School which, granted, was a lot closer to home but Rachel did not like the look of it.

Plus she read all about their glee club there and by the sounds of it, it did not have a very good director as well terrible funding. Clearly it lacked the attention that such an important arts program surely deserved and besides a star like Rachel couldn't possibly be forced to allow her shining light to be diminished in the shadows of a poorly treated glee club.

No, she read all about the one at Carmel High School and was blown away. Now that was the kind of glee club that Rachel Berry deserved to be in...No the star performer of. A talent like hers needed careful nurturing and room to grow. Carmel High was just the place to do that and so after a lot of crying and pleading she finally convinced her dads to allow her to go there instead.

And so that was the place that Rachel Berry started attending high school. As soon as she auditioned for a place on Vocal Adrenaline, the director Shelby Corcoran seemed extremely interested in her and as soon as she had performed she had blown everybody away and was instantly given the role of lead singer. She had been groomed as the star of the glee club for the past few years now and Rachel was now 16 years old and already living her dreams as her team had won nations three times in a row and most of those times were thanks to Rachel and her talent.

They made her feel truly appreciated at Carmel High School and it helped that the glee club was more popular than the football team there – something she doubted was the case at McKinley – and she felt like a Queen when she walked down the hallways. Her high school experience was definitely giving her the taste of what her future would surely be like and she couldn't get enough.

Also another benefit of being in Vocal Adrenaline was the male lead – Jesse St James. He was the hottest and most popular guy in school and was the Tony to Rachel's Maria and her other half. The two of them together were the school's golden couple and everyone respected them. He was the male version of Rachel and they were soul mates. Rachel didn't doubt that they had been made for each other and what they had was truly special.

"Rachel" The brunette was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Shelby's voice. She was currently standing on the stage with the others and dressed in a sequinned pink dress with her hair tied up into a swaying pony tail. Jesse stood near her in the guy's customs of a pink sequinned shirt and black pants.

"Yes, director Corcoran" Rachel said obediently.

"Are you okay if we go through that Madonna melody one more time?"she asked and Rachel have her a bright smile – a smile that one day she would be shooting towards the entire media after receiving her first – though not last by any means – Tony award.

"Sure. I certainly believe in ensuring that everything including the song and the dance routine is perfected so that we can blow them away at Regional's" Rachel agreed immediately and gave her boyfriend a smile expecting him to say something which he did. He always liked to have his say on these matters and as male lead Rachel believed that he did have a right.

"Like Rachel said perfection is what we aim for and I don't mind going through the song again. But I have no doubt at all that we will win at Regional's especially since our leads are so talented" Jesse said smirking and without a trace of modesty.

"Okay. Let's take it from the top then guys!" she exclaimed and the music began playing again. Jesse and Rachel got into place, him standing behind her with his hands on her waist as she grinded her body against his as she sang her solo.

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><p>Meanwhile at McKinley, Finn Hudson was not having a very good day.<p>

He had broken up with his cheating girlfriend Quinn and had been inadvertently been kicked off the football team because he had begun beating up his former best friend Puck since he had gone and knocked up mentioned cheating ex-girlfriend behind his back and never had the guts to say anything to him.

Finn was furious and he was seriously considering just blowing off glee that afternoon but then he knew if he did that he would have an angry step-brother on his case when he got home so there was no avoiding it. He guessed he was just going to have to suck it up and ignore Quinn and Puck if he saw them there.

He walked into the choir room where he saw Mr Shuester was already standing in the middle of the room discussing Regional's and sat himself down in between Tina and Kurt – his stepbrother.

"So do you guys want to know who we are going to be facing at Regional's." Mr Shuester asked them and Mercedes immediately piped up.

"Who cares? I'm going to blow them away with my solo" she bragged before receiving annoyed looks from the others.

"Mercedes, you know that I love you girl but who says you will be performing the solo? You have performed a solo at sectionals already" Kurt huffed from beside Finn.

"I think Finn should do a solo. He's the star of the club after all" Mike Chang piped up and got a glare from both Kurt and Mercedes.

Mr Shuester sighed.

"Guys be quiet and I'll tell you who we're up against" he snapped and the whole club fell silent. Behind him Finn could hear Quinn and Puck whispering to each other but he forced himself to focus on his teacher.

"We're going up against some show choir called Aural intensity and..." he paused before dropping the bomb on his students "Vocal Adrenaline" the tension in the room could be felt by all as they all took in their teacher's words.

Finally it was Kurt who spoke up and broke the silence that was quickly becoming uncomfortable for everyone. "We're up against Vocal Adrenaline? We should just give up now" he groaned.

"Kurt's right – we're screwed!" Tina exclaimed unhappily.

"Now guys don't think like that. I think that with all our combined efforts we have just a good a shot at winning this thing as Vocal Adrenaline do" Mr Shuester protested, trying to inject some positivity into the group but it seemed as though most of the group had already fallen into a deep funk.

"I've got two words for you, Mr Shuester – Rachel Berry" Kurt pointed out."That girl has got the biggest talent that I've even seen. You should have heard her rendition of my man. I swear that brought tears to my eyes"

"Shut it, Hummel" Santana Lopez growled at him."Praising the competition isn't going to get us anywhere"

"Besides I could beat Rachel Berry any day" Mercedes chimed in."So I don't think we have that much to worry about after all"

"Guys I think that we need to think more positively about this" Mr Shuster yelled over them, getting them to quiet down again."We have something that Vocal Adrenaline will never have"

"What?" Finn asked, confused. He didn't really have a clue what the big deal was about Vocal Adrenaline to be honest. When the whole team had gone to check out one of their performances Finn had been ill and had to stay behind but apparently they were really good but surely they weren't unbeatable?

"We have heart" Mr Shuester told them all with a smile."They can sing, they can dance and they have talent. That's true. But so do we and we put our whole hearts into every performance – can we say the same for them? I swear by the time Regional's comes around every single one of you will be ready for them and there will be a very good chance that we could win this thing!"

At his motivational speech everyone except Finn burst into applauds. Finn didn't understand what was going on – all he got was that they were apparently going up against a really good show choir and that New Directions had more heart than Vocal Adrenaline.

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><p>"Gather around guys" Shelby Corcoran called for her performers to gather around her. Following her instruction they all walked off the stage and surrounded her. She stood up holding a brown envelope in her hands. She gave them all a smile.<p>

"Guess what? I have our list of competitor's right here in this envelope. Do you want to know who we're going up against?" Rachel's doe brown eyes widened and she smiled with anticipation whilst Jesse just smirked and answered on behalf of the entire group.

"Sure. Let us know who it is we're going to be crushing like bugs at Regional's this year"

"Well..." Shelby took out a slip of paper from the envelope and grinned at them."We're up against Aural Intensity" at the name of the group everyone burst out laughing and into applause. Rachel remembered them from last year's Regional's. They were really quite mediocre. Shelby continued "And we are also up against New Directions" at that the entire group fell silent and looked confused. Who the heck were New Directions?"

"I've never heard of them before. Are they good?" Rachel demanded, frowning.

"Who knows? They can't be that great if we've never heard of them" one of the guys that Rachel remembered being called Jake spoke up.

"Relax guys" Jesse spoke up in an almost lazy voice."I went to their performance at sectionals. Their leads were average at best. I doubt we'll have much of a problem beating them. It doesn't even look like they even practice their performances beforehand"

"Are you sure about that? Jesse you can be kind of harsh about the competition at times and I don't want to underestimate them" Rachel spoke up and Jesse glared at her.

"I'm not being harsh, Rachel. I'm merely stating the truth"

"Jesse, Rachel's right. We shouldn't under estimate them no matter what you personally think of their performances" Shelby spoke up, hushing up the male lead immediately before continuing "which is why I am adding more rehearsals onto the time table. I want to see you all here at 10.30 on Saturday and Sundays from now on"

"I think that is a good idea although I doubt we need it" Jesse shrugged.

"We are going to make sure that everything is perfect by the time Regional's roll around. I expect nothing less than your best effort from all of you" Shelby warned them before dismissing them.

As Rachel approached her car – her expensive new car which was her gift from Shelby as she had bought all of them new cars as a reward for winning Nationals the previous year – Jesse caught up with her and apologised.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Rachel. I just want us to have more confidence in ourselves" he told her softly, gazing down at her tenderly."We do have the most talented male on our team after all" he smirked before brushing a kiss against her lips before walking off to his own car.

As he disappeared, Rachel could not help but think that sometimes Jesse seemed to love himself more than her.


	2. Chapter Two : The Sound Of Your Voice

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews on the previous chapter! I love hearing your feedback :).**

**At the moment I'm still focusing more on Finn and Rachel's seperate lives and drama but they will meet soon. There will be a tiny hint of Finchel in this chapter but nothing huge since the romance isn't going to get going right away and not for a few chapters at least.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

When Finn arrived home after glee club he had barely made it through the front door before his mother immediately started to demand to know about the fight that had occurred at school earlier that day. He felt ashamed when he saw the disappointment shining in her brown eyes and wanted nothing more than to just lie and say that it was all over exaggerated – he knew that she'd probably believe him too – but he knew there was no way he could lie to her without feeling twice as guilty. Besides there was a logical reason behind his anger and the fight with Puckerman wasn't there?

"Mom, I think there's something you need to know" he sighed and he allowed his mom to drag him into the living room and onto the sofa for the serious conversation that was about to take place.

He didn't know how he was going to let his mother know that not only had her son been thick enough to believe that he could get a girl pregnant without having sex with her first but that his seemingly sweet and kind girlfriend was actually a manipulative, lying and vindictive bully of a cheerleader and the reason that he got into a fight was that his supposed best friend had gone and gotten said girlfriend drunk and slept with her making him the actual father of her child and not Finn. He had dragged himself and his mother through a whole load of angst and worry for no apparent reason.

"Finn Hudson you better tell me right now what is going on with you or I'll go get it from your brother instead" Carole berated her son when he didn't say anything for a few minutes. He could barely bring himself to look at her before finally managing to spit out the words.

"Mom I'm not having a baby after all" Finn confessed and Carole looked at him relieved.

"So Quinn isn't pregnant then? Thank goodness you shaved about ten years off my life, Finn!" she exclaimed and Finn looked even more embarrassed about what he was going to have to tell his mother. Seriously, she was going to be completely ashamed when she learnt what an idiot her son was.

"She is but it's just not my baby she's having" he told her and he winced when his mother let out an outraged gasp.

"That hussy lied to you!"

"Only because I'm the stupidest guy on the planet – I let her do this to me, mom, it was my entire fault!" Finn exclaimed, looking frustrated, tears building in the back of his eyes as he thought of all the worry and the angst he had been put through all because he didn't listen in biology and all the shame and worry his mom had been put through because of his idiocy.

"Sweetie, this was not your fault. She chose to lie to you" Carole told him softly but Finn shook his head vigorously.

"Mom, we never had sex. I believed her when she told me that she got pregnant when we kissed in her hot tub. I am so stupid – I couldn't even figure out that it's not possible for sperm to travel to her eggs or whatever unless we had sex!" Finn blurted out and didn't even look at his mother as he started to cry like the angst riddled sixteen year old boy that he was.

He didn't even know what his mother was thinking right now but he could guess that she probably thought her son was a moron. To his surprise, he felt his mother's warm arms pull him into a hug.

"Baby you are not stupid. A little naive maybe but you are not stupid and Quinn was the one who let you believe it. She's the wrong one in this, not you" Carole assured her son and pulled away from him to look him in the eyes. Finn felt comforted by the gentle not-ashamed expression on her face. His mother didn't think he was a moron after all - that made him feel a little better but not much. After all, his girlfriend still made him look and feel like a fool and his best friend had stabbed him in the back.

"I'm sorry for everything mom" Finn apologised to her and Carole gave him a sad smile.

"You don't need to be sorry, Finn. You had genuinely thought you'd gotten that girl pregnant and tried to do the right thing by her. I'm proud of you baby. I am admittedly relieved that it's not your baby but I am proud that I raised such a good hearted boy. I'm just upset that she took advantage of you" she informed her son, sincerely before frowning and continuing "I do want to know why I got a phone call from the principle letting me know that you'd been kicked off the football team for fighting though, Finn"

"It was Puck" Finn told his mother, gritting his teeth and fighting the anger that was rising in him again. He'd managed to avoid thinking about them both in glee club but now he was at home and talking about them to his mother he felt furious once again for what they had done."He's the father of Quinn's baby. He got her drunk and slept with her"

"Oh baby" Carole sighed, looking disappointed."I can't believe that Puck did that to you. He always seemed like such a good friend to you as well"

"Yeah, well, he's a traitor" he spat out bitterly, rubbing away the tears that had fallen down his cheeks. He was no longer crying but his face still felt wet.

"Even though I'm furious at Noah and Quinn for doing that to you I still have to tell you that I'm disappointed in you for getting into trouble at school. No matter what they do to you, Finn, I expect you to be the better man in future and just walk away okay?" his mother informed looking at him more sternly now.

"Yes, mom" he replied and allowed her to hug him once more.

"Anyway, how did you learn about this whole mess to begin with?" His mother asked him curiously as she moved away again.

"Kurt" Finn said miserably. He never would have figured any of this out if he hadn't discovered his own step-brother gossiping about it behind his back to Mercedes and Tina. He had wanted to kill his brother for the first time in his life but he knew how well that would have gone down with Burt and managed to reserve the worst of his fury for Puck and Quinn.

"What?" Carole looked at him surprised.

"I heard him gossiping about it to his friends. He admitted that he's known about it for a long time now" he told his mother whose eyes began flashing with fury.

"You wait here, Finn. I'm going to find your brother and give him a good talking too. How dare he humiliate you like that" Carole fumed before storming off and out of the room before Finn could object – not that he wanted too since Kurt deserved it and it didn't stop Kurt from getting Burt to giving him a scolding when he was freaked out over the smaller boy's crush on him.

After his mother had completely left the room, Finn was alone and left to contemplate his thoughts of the events of the day in silence. As he mused, he wondered if he would ever be able to find a girl that he would be able to trust fully not to break his heart or if every single one of them was just the same as Quinn Fabray.

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><p>Rachel returned home from her practice with Vocal Adrenaline to find both of her dads Hiram and Leroy sitting in the living room in silence. She frowned as she walked in and felt the tension that seemed suffocating as it filled the whole room. She hung her long dark coat onto the coat hanger before sitting down on the couch beside Hiram.<p>

"Hi, is something going on? You two are being awfully silent and daddy your home early" Rachel was addressing Leroy, who sat in the arm chair placed next to Hiram's side of the sofa, with the last part of her sentence. He was a workaholic lawyer and never usually returned home until dinner was on the table. This was a great contrast to her stay at home father Hiram who loved nothing more than talking care of his family and was always there when they needed him.

"Sweetie as you know you are sixteen years of age now and are practically a woman" Hiram spoke up, his eyes looking slightly teary at his own words.

"And as you are no longer our little girl" Leroy said with a deep sigh as if it killed him to say it – although it probably did."We think it's time that you know the truth"

"The truth..." Rachel frowned with confusion "About what?"

"Your birth mother, darling" Hiram replied and Rachel instantly shot up from where she was sitting.

"No" she said instantly."No, I don't want to know. I don't need to know. Maybe if I ever get curious I'll ask again but right now I don't want to know about her"

"She didn't abandon you Rachel. We forced her to leave, it was part of the agreement and the papers that she signed before she got pregnant with you" Leroy added, concerned that Rachel was only doing this because she was afraid of being abandoned again or that she was abandoned by her in the first place.

"Baby, I really feel that you need to know about your mother. You should know her and we were selfish for preventing you from knowing her all those years ago" Hiram told his daughter, looking at her concerned but with tears falling down his face. He was clearly the most sensitive out of the two men and had always cried easily at everything. The idea of allowing their daughter to develop an interest in a different parental figure who could potentially take her away from them was definitely not an exception.

"Dad, Daddy – I understand how hard this must be for you to bring up and I know that it hurts you to think about the idea of me meeting my birth mother but you don't need to worry about it because I do not want to know her – at least not at this moment in time. Please respect that. I promise I'll tell you the minute I grow curious" Rachel insisted before walking out of the room.

The last thing that she needed right now was to cause drama in her family by fulfilling her selfish and very secret desire to meet the woman that birthed her; she got enough drama as it was with Jesse and Vocal Adrenaline.

As her mind wandered onto Jesse, she remembered the way that he snapped at her at practice. That was his usual kind of behaviour; he always thought that his opinion was the only right one and that they should always do things his way. It frustrated her but she knew without a doubt that he was the only one who understood her and she loved him.

She always felt guilty resenting him because then he could be so romantic and sweet towards her and he put up with her flaws too. Rachel knew only too well that she wasn't the easiest person to put with but Jesse did and he didn't even complain so why should she? He was the one for her and that was that. She only needed Jesse in her life – she didn't need any other guys (besides from her dads of course) or her birth mother- just Jesse.

At least that's what she told herself as she flung herself down onto her bed and burst into tears as she wondered if she really deserved Jesse St James or even dads when she couldn't contain her longing to know her real mother and to stop wondering if what she had with Jesse was even real love.

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><p>The weekend past fairly quickly although the extra practice for Vocal Adrenaline was tougher than ever and Jesse was being even more of...well a jerk when anyone else offered up their suggestions or even suggested that someone else had a turn singing lead.<p>

Whist Rachel believed that Vocal Adrenaline had the best chances of winning Regional's with her and Jesse as the leads, she did believe that everyone deserved a chance to have their ideas at least considered. Jesse was unnecessarily harsh to their fellow team mates and it was bringing them fact Shelby had to tell him to shut up more than once as he was even beginning to get on her nerves. She was the director, she made the decisions and Rachel thought she deserved the respect that Jesse wasn't even giving to her.

The only one Jesse would listen to was Rachel. So she was forced to eventually speak up even though the idea of speaking against her boyfriend made her feel queasy.

"Jesse you need to calm down. Although I understand that your ideas may have greater merit than anyone else on our team you need to listen to director Corcoran. She's our director and she's the one that makes the decisions even if we don't like them" Rachel explained to him and tried not wince at his annoyed look.

"Rachel you are supposed to be on my side, remember? You want to win nearly as much as me so I don't see why you are taking their sides" Jesse scowled at her.

"Jesse you know that I'm on your side. I'm just preventing you from making director Corcoran do something she would regret such as suspending you from the team" she replied and although Jesse refused to speak to her for the rest of the weekend, she knew that he saw her point because he stopped objecting whenever someone had an idea or when their director changed the musical numbers and gave someone else the opportunity to shine besides from Jesse.

The Monday after weekend was when things got interesting. Shelby held them all back afterwards for a brief meeting.

"I've received news that New Directions will be doing a public performance at Lima Hospital this week. I have decided that we are going to go and watch their performance and see how good they are. Not everyone has had the opportunity to see them at Regional's" Shelby spoke up and gave Jesse a pointed glance warning him not to speak.

"I think this could be very interesting" Rachel smiled."I do hope they are good. Aural Intensity will be easy to beat but a little healthy competition would be fun for a change"

"I hate to disappoint you, Sweetie but we're Vocal Adrenaline. We don't have competition" Jesse smirked and Rachel rolled her eyes. Whatever he thought, they were not unbeatable. They had their weaknesses and Rachel was beginning to believe that his lack of team spirit and arrogance was just a few of them.

"It will still be worth checking them out" Shelby told them all anyway before dismissing them.

Later that evening much to both of her dads displeasure Jesse showed up with a box of Rachel's favourite chocolates and a DVD rental of funny girl.

"I am here to apologise for my attitude towards you, Rachel. It was wrong of me. You have made very valuable points these past few days and I've been too stubborn to see that. Forgive me?" he asked her and whilst Rachel really would have liked to have slammed the door in his face she couldn't resist the allure of the box of chocolates and funny girl so she invited him in and allowed him to give her a kiss.

As they settled down to watch the film and share the chocolates Rachel wondered if they were always destined to go around in this circle for all of time. He would be a jerk, she'd get mad and then forgive him and then it would start all over again. As he wrapped an arm around her, however, her concerns about their relationship suddenly melted away and everything felt right again.

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><p>"Alright so I was thinking that for our Friday performance at the hospital we could have Finn sing can't fight this feeling and have Mercedes do a little R'n'B number. As for the rest of us, for a group number I thought that don't stop would be a good choice as it's been our song for this entire year" Mr Shuster told them all in glee club that Monday afternoon.<p>

Finn sat in between Mike and Tina that day since he wanted to be as far away from Quinn and Puck as possible so that he could actual focus on glee this week. At Mr Shuester's words Finn could hear his brother begin to bristle with annoyance at being overlooked once again.

"Mr Shuester don't you think that I deserve a solo for a change? I love my brother and Mercedes but they are always being handed the solos" Kurt complained.

"Hey I'm handed them because I'm our best chance at winning" Finn snapped, still somewhat irritated by his brother's treatment of him and now annoyed that the guy was still trying to take his solos from him because he knew that Mr Shuester felt pity for the ones who never got the limelight as much as others.

"Kurt, I'll see if I can fit in a solo for you in our set but I can't promise anything okay? And Finn and Mercedes usually go down the best with our audiences and that's why I usually pick them – not that I'm saying that you are less talented because we all know that is definitely not true – all I mean is that Broadway songs are usually your thing and not everybody likes them. You need to show some more versatility in the future if you want me to pick you for more solos" Mr Shuester informed him rationally but Kurt wasn't having it.

His cheeks turned red as he stood up from his seat. Mercedes gave him a concerned look.

"Kurt-"but he cut her off before she could say anything.

"Look Mr Shuester I know that you are trying to do what's best for New Directions and everything and what will give us the best chance of winning but sometimes I feel that you don't want to give me a chance because of who I am and who I choose to love" Kurt exclaimed angrily and Mr Shuester looked taken back. The others looked at Kurt shocked.

"Kurt that's extremely unfair. I don't choose you because of what I just said. You need to show you can sing more than Broadway tunes" Mr Shuester insisted, sounding upset now at Kurt's angry accusation.

"Broadway is me, Mr Shuester" Kurt responded looking frustrated."And you always tell us to be who we are. Finn is classic rock, Mercedes is R'n'B, Puck is rap and old school songs like Neil Diamond and Tina is pop. You always give them the solos. Why should I be any different?"

"Look Kurt they've branched out into other things but I've yet to see that from you. When you can show me you are willing and able to do other types of music then I'll give you a solo immediately" Mr Shuester told him firmly, sounding annoyed at having his authority questioned and by Kurt of all people. He knew Kurt had done it before with the whole Britney Spears incident a few months ago but now he was taking it over the top.

"I give up" Kurt exclaimed before dramatically storming out of the room leaving behind a shocked glee club.

"I'll go after him" Finn offered before chasing his step-brother out of the choir room and down the hallway of McKinley. "Kurt, stop!"

"Let me go, Finn. Let me at least have my diva storm out moment which is becoming quickly less dramatic now that I'm standing here and discussing it with you" Kurt snapped as he froze in his steps and turned to face his step-brother.

"Kurt you need to calm down, dude. You know that Mr Shuester's right and you shouldn't be disrespecting his authority like that" Finn pointed out to him.

"Maybe you're right Finn but I'm so tired of being forced to beg for a solo" Kurt admitted, looking resigned."You get them all the time and I hate it"

"Is this why you spent your time gossiping about what you should have told me to my face to Mercedes and Tina? Was that your way of getting back at me?" Finn asked his step-brother quietly, looking hurt. Kurt looked at him shocked.

"I wouldn't do that to you, Finn" he insisted before pausing and then adding "Well not consciously anyway"

"Kurt you might resent me because Mr Shuester treats me like the star of New Directions and you might feel like it should be you but it hurts that you wouldn't even tell me to my face that my girlfriend was lying to me and instead laughed at me behind my back and made look and feel like a total idiot. It was humiliating, so if that was your revenge, conscious or not, you got it man, congratulations and just so you know I'm not going to stop you from quitting glee club. If you think that's best and you'll get better treatment somewhere else that's up to you although I think that would be a really stupid decision since in glee you are never going to find better friends or anyone that will accept you like we do"

After finishing his speech, Finn gave Kurt one last long look before walking away, leaving his step-brother behind looking stunned and upset by his words.

* * *

><p>It was a few days later and it was finally time for the New Directions to perform for the residents of Lima, Ohio Hospital. They were performing outside on the big spacious lawn that was behind the building where plenty of chairs had been set up for their audience. The group were dressed in matching outfits. The boys wore black dress shirts and slacks with dark red ties whilst the girls wore deep crimson red dresses and black heels with red headbands.<p>

Kurt was nowhere to be seen and hadn't been around the Glee members for the past few days clearly needing time to think about what he wanted to do. Finn was stood looking around as the audience began to fill up every single seat and felt nerves churning in the pit of his stomach. Next to him he saw that Tina was cuddling up to Mike for comfort.

"It's going to be awesome, babe, don't worry about it" he told her and sounded as if he believed it although Finn didn't know how he could be so sure when even he was nervous about their first public performance besides from sectionals.

"Guys don't be nervous – you are going to be great. I believe in you and you should believe in yourselves as well" their director cheered them on and looked optimistic. Finn only wished that he could feel the way that Mr Shuester looked and felt right now because he immediately felt nervous when he realised that he would be the first solo performer with can't fight this feeling by REO Speed wagon.

Meanwhile in the audience, Vocal Adrenaline had managed to sneak their way in and where sitting anonymously amongst the other audience members – the residents of the hospital and their relatives as well as the staff. Rachel was sat in between Shelby – who had saved her a special seat next to her for some weird reason – and Jesse. She got the feeling that the woman seemed to favour her above everyone else including Jesse and although she understood she was a great talent so she did deserve the favouritism she didn't think that Shelby was particularly the type to take favourites.

Deciding not to think more of it, Rachel brought her eyes up to the platform or make shift stage where the New Directions were already standing in preparation dressed in their surprisingly nice and matching outfits. McKinley must have managed to get themselves some more funding since the last time Rachel had checked.

"Hello everyone" a thirty something man with curly blonde hair who dressed in a bright purple sweater vest spoke into the microphone and addressed the audience. Rachel assumed this must be the director of the McKinley glee club. "I want to thank you all for coming to watch us today and hope that you will enjoy every second of New Directions performances" after the man had gone to take a seat himself on the front row of the audience the New Directions began arranging themselves into place.

Out of the matching red and black costumes a tall and incredibly handsome teenager stepped forwards whilst the others stood still. Rachel stared at him and felt butterflies flutter in her stomach. He was extremely good looking indeed. But the way she felt from just his appearance was nothing compared to how she felt when she heard him sing.

"_I can't fight this feeling any longer..."_


	3. Chapter Three  : Hot n Cold

**AN - I apologise so much for the slow update but Im having internet trouble with my laptop and the only reason I am getting it up now is because I've borrowed my mum's netbook which I can hardly type properly on so as you may realise it is hardly the ideal situation. I will try to get the next chapter completed and up as soon as my internet starts working again but I don't know when that will be for sure.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Three <strong>

Thankfully, the performance went quicker than Finn had expected. Before he knew it he was riding back on the bus to McKinley. They had gotten special permission to be out of their morning classes for that performance but now it was time to return and he couldn't be anymore relieved. I

It was more nerve wracking than he had anticipated considering that they were doing in a bunch of old and sick people and it the atmosphere was nowhere near as intense was it was at he had been running on adrenaline at sectionals and it was a much calmer atmosphere that allowed him to get nervous this time with no adrenaline there to keep him going.

It did go well overall he thought. They applauded and there were no boos and some of them even told them what lovely voices they thought they had and that they were a talented group of young people that were going to go far. It had been nice and it had been so worth missing Spanish and Geometry for. As he smiled to himself he noticed Mercedes sit herself down next to him and give a concerned look.

He almost knew what she was about to say before she said it.

"How's Kurt? I'm really worried that he's not going to come back to Glee club. I mean he was pretty mad at Mr Shuester" Mercedes said, looking sad and like she was missing her best friend being there for her performance just like Finn was sad that his step-brother didn't even want to be there for Finn either. It seemed like he wanted to wallow in his own pain for a while.

"I don't know. He barely even bothers speaking to me and avoids me most of the time now. Burt thinks I've done something to him. Which by the way is totally untrue"Finn said and felt a pang of guilt at their argument but to be honest Finn was not all that sorry about what had happened in that hallway.

He had needed to say those words ever since Finn discovered the awful truth about his girlfriend from Kurt gossiping about it behind his back and now he had said it, he felt as if he could let go of the resentment that he had been holding onto against Kurt and be friendly with him again. It was just a shame that right now it didn't seem like his brother wanted to be all that friendly with himself.

"Well he better get his white butt back to Glee as soon as possible or I'm going to drag him there myself" Mercedes replied looking annoyed before she left and moved back to her previous seat that was with Quinn.

For some weird reason those two had suddenly struck up a very weird and unexpected friendship. Finn didn't like to think of Quinn to much so he didn't dwell on it too long. Instead he relieved his performance and smiled as he remembered how he had thought that he could have done that forever.

Joining Glee club had totally been against his will at first (someone had framed him for drugs and Mr Shuester had been way too cool about it, offering him an alternative to a year worth of detention by making him join the glee club) but suddenly he realised that when he left McKinley and hopefully Lima music was what he wanted to do with his life.

When he had been on that stage singing he had never felt a rush like it. Now that Quinn was out of his life and no longer making her annoying perfect plans of the future for the two of them (He really did not want to be a mechanic for the rest of his life) he realised that anything was possible for him including music.

He felt his smile grow even wider as he looked out of the window of the bus at the passing landscape. Finn Hudson was going to be more than the Lima loser everyone expected him to be and he was going to prove it to them all.

* * *

><p>Sitting in the empty auditorium of Carmel high school after a vigorous rehearsal with Vocal Adrenaline (They had gotten a little spooked when they realised that they did have competition from New Directions who were actually very good despite what Jesse had told them), Rachel thought back to the New Directions performance.<p>

The first guy that had song solo was amazing. He was good looking and his voice was rich and strong. Not as powerful as Jesse's admittedly but he was good. The passion in his eyes, in his voice, touched something in her and she felt a spark. A spark that she hadn't felt with Jesse in a long time and she hated that she felt that way.

Of course she loved Jesse with her whole heart and he was her boyfriend and her soul mate – he always would be – but that singer had made her realise that she hadn't been quite as passionate as she thought she had been about her work. Vocal Adrenaline was talented but they lacked emotion and that was their real weakness.

After watching New Directions perform she knew that they had bucketful of passion and emotion and heart and that made them a threat. If Vocal Adrenaline wanted to crush all their competition then they were going to have to start taping into their emotions and less of the dancing and gimmicks and special effects.

"Rachel" The brunette looked up and was startled to see that Shelby had come back in and was now heading towards her, sitting down in a chair nearby."What are you still doing here? I thought everyone would have gone home by now"

"I was just thinking" Rachel smiled at her coach.

"In the auditorium...?" Shelby looked at her understandingly."I come here to think all the time too. I like the silence and the peace and I find the surroundings comforting"

"Me too" Rachel agreed, surprised that Shelby seemed to think the exact same way as her."I was just remembering the performance of New Directions. They were surprisingly good"

"They were good" Shelby concurred before continuing "They weren't all that well put together and their chorography was not that great but their passion and their love for what they were doing made them genuine"

"I think that's our weakness" Rachel confessed to her director, knowing that she could end up accidentally insulting her coach if she didn't put it tactfully."We don't seem to focus enough on putting our hearts and souls into it. That might be our downfall when we come up against New Directions at Regional's"

"Your right" Shelby replied and Rachel felt surprised at her quick agreement to her opinion. She thought she might need to debate it a bit more.

"What do you think we should do to improve it director Corcoran?" Rachel asked the woman who she personally saw as a role model. The woman herself smiled at Rachel, her eyes shining with something that Rachel could not identify.

"We're going to make some changes for starters but for now go home and get some rest. I'm pretty sure that your dads are going to start worrying about you if you stay here for much longer"

"Yes, your probably right" Rachel agreed and got up, forgetting all about whatever she had seen in her director's eyes."I'll see you tomorrow, coach"

As Rachel walked off; Shelby stared at her with a longing expression. "See you tomorrow, sweetie" she said quietly when the room was empty.

* * *

><p>It was the first Monday back at school after the Friday that New Directions had performed at the hospital when Mr Shuester called a glee club meeting. Finn was concerned when once again Kurt didn't show up but he decided that if his step-brother really wanted to be there than he would be there. He just didn't understand how Kurt could just suddenly want to stop coming to glee because he didn't get as many solos as he wanted.<p>

But thinking about, Finn had to wonder if there was more to do it than just the whole solos issue. He decided that he would confront his step-brother later and find out what was going on. For now he needed to focus on what his director was saying.

"I just want to say that you guys were all amazing on Friday. Each and every one of you brought your all to the performance and I have to say that we blew them all away" Their teacher smiled at the whole club proudly."But I do have some news for you"

"Good or bad?" Mercedes asked, frowning.

Mr Shuester smiled at her reassuringly."Neither, it's just news. Shelby Corcoran the coach of Vocal Adrenaline has been in touch with me and has informed me that since she brought her team to watch our performance on Friday that it's only fair her team do a performance for us. They'll be giving us a sample on Friday in the auditorium"

"I don't believe this; they are trying to freak us out" Puck shouted and Finn had to force himself to ignore the sound of his traitorous former friend's voice and anger that rose within at the mere sound of it."I say we don't watch them. They will only try to shove their smug little dance moves in our faces"

"Guys" Mr Shuester yelled, before anyone could reply to Puck's outburst."I think this could be a good thing. When we see their performance we'll be able to evaluate their weaknesses and strengths and therefore improve our own performance to get one up over them"

"I don't know if that will work, Mr Shue. Vocal Adrenaline is hugely talented and I've heard that Berry girl sing. She's good" Mercedes informed him nervously before adding "Although not that much of a challenge for me"

"Mercedes just because they have a talented lead doesn't automatically guarantee that they've won the competition. We have a pretty talented group here if I do say so myself" Mr Shuester said, smiling at them all."We just need to practice some more and stop feeling so negative. We have just a good a chance of winning as they do"

"Yeah I mean I don't think that they could possibly be all that great could they?" Finn asked and was confused by the incredulous looks he was receiving from the other members of the club.

"Dude, you weren't there when we went to watch them months ago" Mike Chang commented."They were amazing. Their dancing was incredible and I should know"

"Oh shut it Asian boy. We could do without you praising the other team" Santana Lopez snapped in her usual rude and hostile manner.

"Racist" Tina called out at Santana from where she sat exceedingly close to her boyfriend who was clearly offended by Santana's derogatory way of pointing out his ethnicity.

"GUYS" Everyone fell silent and turned to their director who looked very annoyed."This is not what I call good team work or positive thinking. For now I think we should just dismiss this meeting until Thursday. I want to see at least one performance for this week's assignment on Thursday as well so get practicing!"

After being dismissed, Finn walked out of the school and towards his car. As he got into the driver's seat, he wondered if Vocal Adrenaline was really as talented as the others made out. Finn was the captain of the glee club and it was up to him to make sure that they had a fighting chance of winning.

So as soon as they checked out the competition on Friday and he had seen the performance himself he was going to make sure to do whatever it took to ensure that they had a chance of winning Regional's, even if it meant that he would have to fraternise with this Rachel Berry chick.

* * *

><p>"It's not good enough!" Jesse yelled at Rachel as they stormed out of the school after another day of practice. "You were clearly not singing with enough emotional depth. Barbara was much more intense than that. It was like you were purposely trying to sound like an emotionless robot"<p>

At his criticism, Rachel turned around and slapped him across the face. She had been force to endure his biting words all throughout that afternoon's practice and she had gotten sick of it. Rachel Berry knew how talented she was and she knew for a fact that Jesse was taking out his frustration with Shelby out on her and she hated it.

"I don't know what made you the Simon Cowell of Carmel High but I am sick of you criticising my every move when I happen to know that there was nothing wrong with my performance. Have you ever stopped to think that it might be you?" Rachel shouted back at him as she stormed over to her car as he followed her, rubbing his now sore and slightly pink cheek.

"Me? There is nothing wrong with my performance. It's always perfect. And you are such a drama queen Rachel. Really was there any real need to get violent?" Jesse demanded angrily as he watched her get into the driver's seat of her car. She glared at him from where she was now seated before pulling away.

She had been force to put up with enough of his antics for one day. As she drove, Rachel had to blink back the tears that wanted to fall. After their last argument Jesse seemed truly remorseful and had been really sweet to her but now he was at it again. He was hot and cold with her and she was really confused about whether she should stay with him or not.

As she drove, she heard Katy Perry begin singing on the radio and she began singing along thinking of Jesse the entire time.

_You change your mind like a girl changes clothes_

_Yeah you PMS like a bitch I would know_

_And you over think always speak cryptically_

_I should know that you're no good for me_

The next day at practice, Rachel decided that a little solo performance might be good for the team and when she requested to do her solo performance, Shelby accepted and so the rest of the team sat in the seats of the auditorium whist Rachel stood and danced on the stage for her performance, mentally dedicating it to Jesse who was still scowling at her from where he sat. Clearly he wasn't over their last fall out yet. Well good because neither was she and she was about to allow the song to speak for itself and show Jesse exactly how she was feeling.

_Because you're hot and you're cold,_

_You're yes then your no_

_You're in and you're out_

_You're up and you're down_

_You're wrong when it's right_

_It's black and it's white_

_We fight we break up_

_We kiss we make up_

_You don't really want to stay no_

_But you don't really want to go oh_

_You're hot and cold_

_You're yes then your no_

_You're in and you're out_

_You're up and you're down_

As she danced around the stage, she didn't notice the proud expression on Shelby's face. This was the first time that any Vocal Adrenaline number included any real emotion behind the music and she could definitely hear it coming out from Rachel especially since it seemed directed at a certain arrogant male lead that was sitting beside her and looking seemingly annoyed with his arms folded but his expression remained blank and emotionless.

_We used to be just like twins some would think_

_The same energy now a dead battery_

_Used to laugh about nothing_

_Now you're plain boring_

_I should know that you're not going to change_

As Rachel continued to perform the Katy Perry Song she imagined that she was in a room alone with Jesse. He was tied down to a chair with a gag over his mouth to keep him quiet (That would be something to behold – he spoke more than she did and she knew she could babble quite a lot) as she sang about how much his constantly changing attitudes towards her was beginning to hurt her.

Rachel was angry and allowing her emotion to flow through her music was almost freeing to her. She began to wonder if this was what it was like when New Directions performed and put every single one of their emotions and hearts into their songs. If it was she could imagine why they had made it through sectionals their first time around. It was definitely something.

After performing the final few choruses and the bridge of the song, Rachel finished and the entire group began to applaud besides from Jesse. Shelby stood up from where she was sitting and gave them all a wide and somewhat rare smile.

"Now this was what I was talking about. This is exactly the kind of thing that we need to bring to Regional's with us. That kind of emotion is what we should be singing with and from now on I want to see us all doing it. Great job, Rachel" Shelby complimented her and Rachel smiled.

As practiced finished a few hours later, Jesse approached his girlfriend who was getting changed out of her costume in the female changing rooms. She looked at him with annoyance when he just waltzed in when she had only just finished changing.

"Great job sweetie I knew you could do it" he told her and Rachel looked at him confused.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him frowning.

"I knew that you would be able to put more emotion in your performance if we had a fight. So I totally picked one the other day and even though I knew it would hurt you I also knew that it would improve your performance and it did. Well done, I'm proud of you" Jesse smiled at her and started to lean in to kiss her but she pulled away from him angrily.

"You mean you purposely set out to hurt me just so I'd perform better?" Rachel demanded."Is that all I mean to you?"

"Rachel, I thought you of all people would understand. This is show business. We have to put our performances first and the rest of it second. I love you but I want us to win nationals even more. I'm sorry if that hurts you, sweetie" Jesse admitted to her and she ignored him as she stormed out of the changing rooms.

Her boyfriend was definitely a real tool at times. She loved him but now she was definitely wondering if breaking up with him was the right thing to do before he drove her out of all of the self respect and dignity that she had left. Rachel blinked back her tears of frustration as she exited the school and got into her car.

Before she began to drive, however, her cell phone began ringing and 'I'm not that girl' began blasting out. She picked it up and tried not to allow her frustration with Jesse to show in her tone of voice.

"Can I help you?" she asked tiredly and she heard a familiar chuckle down the other side of the line.

"Well it sounds like someone's been having a bad day" Blaine Anderson, Rachel's BFF and the lead singer of the Dalton Warblers said down the other end of line with amusement in his voice.

"How can you tell?" Rachel sighed."It's all because Jesse was being Jesse and putting Vocal Adrenaline above our relationship"

"I don't get why you're still with him" Blaine replied sounding irritated on her behalf.

"Because the only attractive guy I know is my best friend and he happens to be gay" Rachel sighed dramatically down her cell phone making Blaine chuckle.

"If I was straight you know that I'd marry you in an instance but you know you don't need to have a boyfriend to be happy. In fact I'm sure you'd be happier without that tool" he answered her.

"I'm sure your right but I love him and it's not that easy. Anyway I'll talk to you later. I need to get home and rehearse some of my solos or else Miss Corcoran will not be pleased with me" Rachel told him.

"Okay but I just wanted to see if you wanted to come over to my house for my party this weekend. If it makes you feel better a lot of my good looking, very straight and available Dalton friends will be there as well" Blaine informed her and Rachel smiled for the first time in a while.

"How could I refuse an offer like that Mr Anderson? I'll be there. Goodbye my darling for now" Rachel said jokingly and he chuckled before they hung up.

As she drove home she thought how lucky she was to have a friend like Blaine. She didn't have any really close friends at Carmel and she and Blaine had met at sectionals a few years ago when their show choirs were going up against each other. Despite the rivalry they got talking and became fast friends and from then on they had been best friends ever since.

She thought about what he had said about Jesse and wondered if staying with him was really the right thing for her at this point. She loved him but sometimes she knew that love wasn't enough especially when he clearly didn't put her first in his life. He was selfish and so was she. Maybe they were way too compatible for one another but Rachel decided that she would give it serious thought before doing something that she might regret later.


	4. Chapter Four : Skinny Love

**AN - This is unusual for me to update a single story twice in the same week but since I still have access to the internet on my mums net book and access to Microsoft word on my laptop as well as already managing to reach my usual amount of reviews for this story per chapter I have decided to give you all an early update. **

**Plus there is some Finchel in this chapter at last!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

It was finally the day of Vocal Adrenaline's performance for the New Direction's in the auditorium of McKinley high school – it was also a week exactly since they had witnessed New Direction's performances at the hospital.

Standing backstage, Rachel felt her stomach twist with nerves. She knew that whilst she was extremely talented and was sure to be the next Barbara Streisand and just as great as some of the other legends of her time there was the smallest chance that something could go wrong.

Jesse could distract her – although that was unlikely since the two of them had barely been speaking since Rachel had gotten angry with him in the changing room because of what he had done to her for the sake of their performances – or someone, a less talented member of their team could fall and completely ruin the dance routine of their second number.

The first number that would be performed was going to be a solo by Rachel. She had picked the song herself and practiced it religiously. She had performed it privately for their coach, wanting to surprise everyone else and Shelby had loved it so much that she had instantly decided that would be the opening number.

As Rachel continued to stand there nervously dressed in the female costume for their performances – a strapless and bold hot pink sequined mini dress with ruffles along with matching pink heels, a very daring outfit she had thought when she had seen it – she didn't hear her boyfriend approach her from behind with an arrogant smirk on his handsome face.

"Nervous about performing your solo, babe?" he asked her and Rachel jumped around. She glared when she saw him there looking smug and confident like he usually did.

"No, I am just anxiously waiting for us to start" Rachel replied smoothly.

"Rachel, don't lie to me. I know you too well. You are nervous but you shouldn't be. Those losers that are going to be watching us wouldn't know true talent if it hit them in their face. Hell, their leads are clearly too lazy and unorganised to actually get some practice in before hand. Both their performances last week and at sectionals were abysmal so don't be worried" Jesse told her firmly, putting one hand on the side of Rachel's face. She fought the urge to swipe it off. She was still angry at him but he didn't seem to get it.

"You are wrong, Jesse. Those guys were good. They had heart. Sure their dancing was off but their singing was amazing" Rachel snapped at him."And if you are not willing to see that then you are not going to help our team do well at Regional's, in fact you might be the reason we will lose"

"Sweetie, we haven't lost in years" he laughed at her before smirking at her."Besides if we lose it'll be on your head, Rachel. You're the one who's waltzed into our glee club and changed everything about Vocal Adrenaline insisting that we sing with more emotion and heart and inadvertently taking all the best things about us and making them into something else"

"I was improving our team. You even said so yourself that we needed to sing with more emotion and you even hurt me just so that I would put on a more 'emotional' performance" The brunette replied, looking at him angrily. Jesse raised an eyebrow at her.

"I believe I only ever mentioned that it was _you_ that needed to sing with more emotion and I was right. You were more magnificent than usual at Tuesday's practice so I don't regret hurting your feelings a little bit to help you improve your talent. You will thank me for this someday" Her boyfriend told her coolly and Rachel felt her temper begin to flare.

She was well known for her diva tantrums but never before had she been tempted to pull one on her boyfriend but he was being so smug and arrogant towards her right now that she just couldn't help it.

"You know what Jesse? I really love you, I do but I can't deal with this anymore. I deserve better. I know my talent and I know that I am an excellent performer without your help, after all I have had years worth of training and quite a bit more than what you have had I believe so don't you try blaming our weaknesses on me. This is a team effort Jesse and I refuse to make this about me. It's all of us including you and until you can admit that I don't think that we should be in a relationship together anymore" Rachel told him simply and felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

As Jesse froze with a stunned expression on his face from Rachel's words, Shelby called her team together.

"Okay guys it's time to start. I just want you know that I'm proud of all the effort you guys have put into this all this week and I know you are going to be brilliant up there on that stage. Now good luck and Rachel go get into position" Shelby spoke to her group and then instructed her favourite student.

The petite diva nodded in affirmation before hastily and confidently striding onto the McKinley stage in the auditorium. Bright lights beamed down above her but it didn't take her too long to adjust to the lightening since she had gotten used to it from her own school's stage and the stages at the show choir competitions.

The brunette forced herself to smile as she looked over at her audience which included only the members of her rival show choir and their director.

"Hello, I'm Rachel Berry" The brunette began to introduce herself and her team."Vocal Adrenaline hope that you'll enjoy our performances today"

After finishing the introduction, the music for her choice of song for her solo began to play and she got into position ignoring the butterflies in her stomach.

* * *

><p>In the audience, Finn Hudson had been sitting bored for the last few minutes as he and the others waited for Vocal Adrenaline to start. However as soon as his eyes landed on the petite girl that walked confidently onto the stage he quickly began to pay attention.<p>

He assumed that the short girl with the endless legs (she was hot, he couldn't help himself from noticing) and the long dark hair was the lead singer, Rachel Berry. He listened to her voice eagerly as she began to introduce herself and her team.

The voice that came out of her small body was surprisingly strong but sweet. He had a feeling that she was going to be talented but nothing could have prepared him for what he actually heard when she began to sing.

"_Come on skinny love just last the year Pour a little salt you were never here My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer"_

The emotion that filled the brunette girl's voice immediately touched something inside of Finn. It was like all of his life he had been waiting to hear the sound of her voice...as crazy as that probably seemed. It was like magic and it felt like it had created a fire inside of him. He couldn't tear his eyes off the beautiful girl or stop focusing on the power and passion of her unexpectedly powerful and emotional voice.

She was amazing.

She was most amazing thing that he had ever heard in his entire life and he could barely believe that something that talented came from a small town in Ohio. Seriously no wonder Vocal Adrenaline had won so many times over the years if they had this girl, Rachel Berry singing for them. She was stunning.

Finn listened to her sing as the song went on and he could hear the emotion in her voice become clearer and he noticed even from where he was sitting that tears had begun to fall from her eyes. It was clear that she was singing this song with someone in mind and was putting her whole heart into it.

"_And I told you to be patient and I told you to be fine And I told you to be balanced and I told you to be kind Now all your love is wasted then who the hell was I? Cause now I'm breaking at the britches And at the end of all your lines_

_Who will love you? Who will fight? And who will fall far behind?_

_Come on Skinny love My, my, my, my, my my, my, my, my_

As Rachel's song ended, the entire New Direction's team sat in a completely stunned silence. Her voice had blown them all away and the emotion behind it was clear. Mr Schuester had said that they had heart and that was Vocal Adrenaline's weakness.

Well it had become abundantly clear that they had improved on their weakness. They were amazing and Finn looked over at their director and saw that even he appeared to have been blown away by her voice.

"Okay she wasn't that good" He heard Santana mutter moodily under her breath.

"I'll admit she has talented but I could have sung that in my sleep" Mercedes added although her expression seemed to suggest other wise. She was shaken by Rachel's talent as well but she would never admit it just as Santana would never admit to it or else they would begin to get nervous and no one wanted that to happen. They needed to remain as positive as possible and that was the girls way of doing it.

"Thank you all for listening. Now let me introduce my team mates and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline" Rachel spoke softly into the microphone and Finn was still startled by the difference in her soft voice and her powerful singing voice. He would never have expected such a strong voice could come from such a tiny girl.

It was magic and Finn for some reason felt a sudden connection to this girl he had never even spoken to before. Her emotion and her voice had connected to something inside of him and he suddenly wanted to know her. He wanted to know who this girl was – well he obviously already knew that she was his rival, a fact that would also make his sudden attraction to her extremely difficult and complicated in so many ways – and what had made her become a member of vocal adrenaline.

As the rest of the team marched on like robots and she stood in the spotlight, Finn suddenly realized that she was different to the rest of them and he felt like he was proved right when he saw their emotionless faces and compared them to Rachel's beautiful and glowing face that was full of excitement and joy and passion at doing something that she clearly loved.

He wondered what she was doing with them when he knew for certain that someone like her belonged with New Directions although if he said that to any of his team mates they would probably punch him for being stupid. Deciding that thinking so much about the lead of his rival show choir probably wasn't a good idea Finn pushed his thoughts of Rachel Berry to the back of his mind and focused as the entire group began to break into a performance of Amy Winehouse's rehab and showed off their amazing dancing skills.

They were definitely way more talented than New Direction's in that area and Finn swore that he saw Mr Schuester swallow deeply. After their performance of Rehab ended, a new song began and a male with curly brown hair stepped forward with a creepy kind of smirk on his face before breaking out into ACDC's highway to hell.

As the male lead sung, Finn suddenly knew what Santana and Mercedes were feeling like – he felt threatened by the powerful and rough voice of the Vocal Adrenaline lead. Although the guy was wearing a really girlie hot pink shirt with his black pants he was still extremely talented and Finn suddenly felt very intimidated and well...not as talented as he was sure he was.

When the song finally finished the douche bag still had smirk on his face but now as well as creepy it was also smug and superior looking as if he knew how good he was exactly and it made Finn angry. He was just as good as that jerk clearly thought he was but he wouldn't be obnoxious about it as he seemed to be.

"Thanks for listening to us. Now you can all go home and bask in the grim chances of you beating us at Regional's. Don't worry; it's not your fault that you just can't measure up to us in talent" The curly haired douche grinned into the microphone resulting in a glare from his coach from backstage.

"And by the way in case you were wondering I'm Jesse St James the star of this team that's going to take you down at Regional's but don't worry I'm graduating this year so maybe next time you will have a small chance of winning"

After that final speech the entire team walked off the stage to meet their director leaving New Direction's in silence in the auditorium.

"Well that was definitely something" was all that their teacher could say when they had disappeared.

* * *

><p>When Finn got home that evening he was surprised to find Kurt sitting in the living room of their home. He hadn't seen much of his step-brother lately and Finn was kind of starting to miss him despite the fact that they didn't seem to get along that much these days or talk that much anymore.<p>

He knew that something had been going on with his brother but hadn't wanted to prey especially since he had been so angry with him the last time they had spoken but now he decided that he should take the opportunity to find out what was going on...except before he could speak, Kurt spoke first, surprising him.

"I know you are probably wondering why I've been avoiding everyone lately" he said and Finn didn't bother denying it.

"I'm worried about you Kurt and so is everyone at glee. We want to know why you haven't been coming" he informed him joining him on the sofa.

"I'm moving schools, Finn" Kurt said shocking his brother. Finn looked at him with a mixture of shock and anger.

"You're moving schools? Why? Is this all because you couldn't get a solo because it is then I think you are being ridiculously over dramatic about this"

"No it's not about the stupid solos although I have to admit it will be nice to be able to get a chance of getting one at my new school" Kurt snapped with annoyance before deflating."I'm moving because I am so sick of the bullying and being treated like filth because I am the way I am. I'm moving so that I can have a fresh start somewhere in a place that someone will actually be able to understand me and people will respect me"

"Is this because of Karosky and the football team?" Finn asked sadly, knowing how badly the idiots on his team treated his brother daily but he had never been able to put a stop to it permanently.

"I'm sorry that they've made you feel this way, Kurt" his told his brother when Kurt nodded in reply to his previous question.

"I am going to miss all of you guys at glee but I need to do this before they make my life even worst than it is. I need to go so that I can feel safe and so that I can be happy. I'm sorry for lashing out at Mr Schue, that was wrong of me and I plan to apologise before I leave but I really have to go. Karosky is getting worst and it's scaring me" Kurt confessed to the bigger boy sadly.

"So where do you plan to transfer to? Please don't tell me Carmel because we have enough competition as it is with them" Finn told him with a smile and also trying not to think of the brunette singer when he brought up Vocal Adrenaline. Kurt gave Finn a small smile in reply before shaking his head.

"No I'm going to be going to an all boys boarding school nearby. I don't know if you've heard of it" he informed Finn who looked at him confused.

"I wasn't aware there was a boarding school for boys nearby. What it called?" he asked him and Kurt grinned at him.

"It's called Dalton and it also has a show choir there. I'm going to be the newest member of the Dalton Warblers"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Rachel was elated after her solo performance. The rest of her team mates had congratulated her and told her how amazing she was – although it was hardly necessary to inform her of what she already knew. She knew that she had been incredible and it was just further prove that Rachel Barbara Berry was destined for Broadway.<p>

However there was only one person that had criticism and not surprisingly that was Jesse, her now ex-boyfriend who was apparently not at all happy about their break up.

"Rachel, I know that this past week has been confusing for you but I hardly think that we should break up. You are being a bit melodramatic not to mention you are only hurting yourself. It was obvious you are hurting over me because of your solo which while emotional was hardly your best performance" he had ranted to her as she followed the rest of their team and coach out of McKinley. She stopped in her tracks and turned to give him a pitying look.

"Jesse, I love you but you are never going to get it are you? That's why we can't be together because you just don't seem to understand a thing about me and a future star of my calibre simply cannot allow a boyfriend to treat her so badly especially not when it's inevitable that someday I am going to a role model for all the future generations to come" Rachel sighed and he looked at her with frustration.

"Have you always got to put yourself first? Why can't you understand my feelings?" he demanded looking hurt and Rachel came to a realisation right then and there.

Whilst Jesse and Rachel should have been compatible in every way they just didn't work on the same wave length and maybe on paper they were very similar creatures but somehow they seemed so different when it actually came down to their relationship. Jesse didn't seem to get that now like Rachel did but she knew someday he would thank her for this.

"Jesse, we keep hurting each other. Let's just end it now whilst we can still be friends" the brunette said softly but Jesse merely glared at her before storming off. Sighing Rachel got into her car and began driving away from McKinley.

As she drove home she thought about what her life would have been like if she'd gone to McKinley and not Carmel. It probably would not have been filled with so much Jesse drama or boy drama unless it was with some other guy. When the brunette pulled up outside of her house she noticed with surprise that her show choir director's car was parked right outside.

Frowning, Rachel wondered what it was that she wanted. She got out of her vehicle before walking into her house. When she stepped into the living room she was surprised to see Shelby sitting on the coach in between both of her fathers. Shelby and Hiram both looked a little teary eyed whilst although Leroy seemed more composed than the two of them even he looked a little emotional.

"Director Corcoran what are you doing here? Dad, daddy what's going on?" Rachel asked with concern as she sat down on one of the loveseats.

"Rachel baby we invited Miss Corcoran to join us for this" Hiram said softly and Rachel looked confused.

"Why would you invite my show choir director over?" she inquired. It did seem a little random and weird to her that they'd invite her director over for no reason.

"Because there is something important that we think you should know and no matter what you have said in the past we know this is important to you and it's unfair for us to allow you keep protecting us from this" Leroy explained to her before glancing at Shelby."Shelby would you like to tell her?"

"Rachel" the older brunette woman sighed and glanced at Rachel wearily."I'm your mother"

Suddenly the entire room began spinning as everything began clicking into place for Rachel. All of the weird glances, the apparent favouritism and Shelby saving her a seat next to her at every performance they went to, it all added up. Shelby was her birth mother. Rachel sat frozen completely stunned by the news she'd just received.


	5. Chapter Five: Broken Down

**A/N: Updates will be slower because Im returning to college this week and thats a priority.**

_"Rachel" the older brunette woman sighed and glanced at Rachel wearily."I'm your mother"_

_Suddenly the entire room began spinning as everything began clicking into place for Rachel. All of the weird glances, the apparent favouritism and Shelby saving her a seat next to her at every performance they went to, it all added up. Shelby was her birth mother. Rachel sat frozen completely stunned by the news she'd just received._

"You're my mother" Rachel finally managed to find her voice again after several tortuous long moments of silence. The brunette had been numb at first from the shock but when it had finally sunk in and everything began adding up and making sense all she could feel was hurt and fear although underneath it all there was an overwhelmingly sense of relief of finally receiving the most important answer to the biggest question she'd ever wondered about in her meeting her mother had been one of her life goals – she figured that she had that one ticked off her list for quite a while now. In front of her, Shelby gave Rachel a hesitant smile, her own eyes red from obviously crying before Rachel had shown up. Was Shelby coerced by hr fathers into telling Rachel the truth? Had she wanted her to know about her? How long had she been intending to keep it a secret and how easy had it been for her to see her all the time and yet not be able to say anything to Rachel?

"Yes. I know you must have a lot of questions so feel free to ask" Shelby replied, her usually cool and firm voice sounding slightly shaky which startled Rachel. She had gotten so accustomed to hearing her show choir director come off as so calm and collected and completely composed. It must take something huge to make Shelby less than that and Rachel guessed that this would go under the category of huge so she shouldn't be so surprised.

"Did you ever love me?" Rachel decided to ask out of all the questions that she had floating in her mind and was surprised by the question herself. She had never intended to ask that but her mouth had moved and the words had slipped out without Rachel having any control over it. Shelby glanced at Rachel's dads startled by the question but her dads nodded at Shelby in encouragement.

"Of course I loved you but the only reason that I had you was because I agreed to be a surrogate for your dads. At the time I was desperate for money so that I could to New York and live out my dreams of Broadway so I was willing to do anything and that included having a baby for two strangers who were willing to pay me a lot of money to do this. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, I was just a kid at the time and I didn't think I would care when the time came for me to give you up" Shelby took a deep breathe before continuing. "But I was proved very wrong. I did care. I more than cared in fact. I loved you as soon as I held you in my arms and I would have loved to have been able to visit you and seen you growing up, been given the chance to get to know you and have a part in raising you but I had signed a contract with your dads before conceiving you and it was very much illegal for me to contact you before you were eighteen years of age"

"How come you never said anything to me before?" Rachel inquired, her voice trembling now as tears began to fill her doe brown eyes that she had clearly inherited from her mother. Thinking about it now, Rachel wondered why she had never realised the rather clear resemblance between herself and Shelby but she guessed maybe somewhere in her subconscious she suspected something but didn't want to know or wasn't ready to know at the time.

"Like I said any contact with you before you were 18 was illegal. I could only be your director and teacher because the contact never said anything about me having to give up my job if you were to come to my school. And as much as I have wanted to say something to you in all the time that I've known you it wasn't up to me. It was up to your dads" Shelby answered Rachel gently, tears filling her eyes once again as she took in the teenager before her that was so much like her that it hurt.

"I understand" said Rachel quietly before asking "Would you want to get to know me now?"

"I do know you" Shelby smiled at her warmly and Rachel shook her head.

"I meant...would you want to get to me know me as your daughter?" at her question Shelby looked at Hiram and Leroy who exchanged glances. They knew at this point they couldn't really stop their daughter from getting to know Shelby as her mother and they had decided together that Rachel needed a mother figure in her life now. She was a teenage girl growing up and there were simply things about life they couldn't teach her, only her mother could. They nodded at Shelby to respond to Rachel again.

"I would like that" The older brunette told Rachel sincerely and Rachel smiled at her as tears fell down her face.

"Okay slow down" Blaine told his best friend as they sat at the local coffee shop having a drink and catching up. Rachel had missed his party over the weekend because she had spent the time with Shelby but when Rachel had explained what had happened to Blaine he had been more than understanding and was now demanding to hear about all of the details of the weekend. "You and Shelby are like mother and daughter already? That was quick"

"No" Rachel shook her head at her best friend."It's not like that yet. I think I would like it to be like that eventually but right now we're just getting to know one another as more than student and teacher. The weekend was fun but we're just seeing how it goes for now"

"You make it sound like dating" Blaine chuckled."Speaking of dating, I just want to say thank goodness you and that tool finally split up. I was this close to jumping that smug singing pansy!" Rachel gave Blaine one of her most disapproving looks she could muster up but it wasn't long before she began laughing at the mental image of Blaine and Jesse fighting. It would be comical for sure since neither of them particularly had it in them to fight. They were part of the arts, not a football team after all.

"It's not that I don't love Jesse" Rachel confided in Blaine after finishing laughing."It's just that we're too similar and our relationship has been going around in circles for a long time now. I just got bored of us doing the same dance and quite frankly, Jesse was starting to take me for granted. As a future Broadway star I deserve much better than that"

"It's time you finally realised it. Jesse was never good for you" Blaine informed her shaking his head."He was too busy blowing his own horn to really pay much attention to you, Rachel"

"Well he can't be as perfect as you Blaine Anderson" Rachel smiled at him."Anyway you haven't told me how your party went?"

"It was good. Wes actually got drunk and ended up making out with Jack who was dressed like Britney Spears because of a bet he lost and Wes was so drunk he thought it was actually her!" Blaine chortled with laughter at the memory and Rachel found herself joining. Just as she was about to make a comment about it, someone approached their table. He was a short, young feminine looking boy and he was looking at Blaine nervously.

"Hi Blaine, I didn't expect to see you here" Blaine's head snapped up at the sound of the boy's voice and Rachel noted with interest that her best friend's eyes seemed to light up at the sight of this mysterious boy.

"Kurt, it's good to see you. I thought you had class right now" Blaine exclaimed looking surprised although happy to see the boy. Rachel observed him carefully. If she didn't know better she would think that someone had a crush.

"Class was cancelled so I thought I'd come here and get a coffee instead" Kurt shrugged.

"Well grab a seat" Blaine insisted and moved over so that Kurt could grab a chair and fit into the now empty space at the table. When he had done, Blaine introduced his best friend to the newcomer. "Kurt this is my best friend Rachel Berry. She's from Carmel High School and a member of the Vocal Adrenaline show choir. Rachel this is Kurt Hummel he's a new transfer student at Dalton. He's just transferred to Dalton this week from McKinley"

"It's good to meet you Kurt" Rachel said politely offering him her hand to shake. Kurt smiled at her uncertainly but accepted her hand anyway.

"It's nice to meet you too" he replied before adding "I've heard of you by the way. I used to be in the New Direction's at McKinley and we went to watch your show choir a couple of months ago" The brunette diva glanced at the new boy with surprise.

"That's interesting, we recently went to see New Direction's perform but I don't recall seeing you there" she informed him and Kurt looked at her uncomfortably.

"I had sort of quit at that time" he responded.

"Well they were talented at any rate" Rachel smiled at him."Although they lack the experience and the tutoring that Vocal Adrenaline have they are really gifted vocally. If they were trained a little better then I think they could take us at Regional's"

"Maybe but I've seen you sing and Jesse St James. You're like a young Barbara Streisand" Kurt complimented her and before Rachel could say anything, Blaine piped up.

"Don't get her started. Barbara is her idol" he smirked at his new friend.

"You have great taste although where did you get that sweater?" Kurt asked looking at her knitted kitten sweater with disdain.

"What's wrong with it?" Rachel looked at him confused.

"Darling, I think the two of us need to go on a shopping trip sometime. How about we exchange numbers and arrange to meet up?" Kurt suggested and whilst Rachel didn't see what was so bad about her animal sweater she agreed because she never would turn down the rare opportunity to make a new friend. And whilst her coffee date with Blaine had gone differently than she had expected, Rachel found herself laughing more than she had in ages and afterwards found herself feeling immensely happy at having made a new friend in Blaine's new crush (it became increasingly apparent from all the stares her best friend kept throwing Kurt).

**_Later in the week..._**

This could not be happening, Rachel thought with annoyance. After having such a great week with her new friend Kurt and getting to know her mother more it was suddenly come to an abrupt end with her car breaking down in the middle of an empty road in Lima. She had been driving back into town after leaving town to meet Kurt and Blaine at a bigger mall than the one in Lima in a nearby town and had been driving back by herself in her car when it suddenly came to a halt. With no one around, Rachel was stranded. Her phone had run out battery and therefore she couldn't ring for her dads or her mom or her friends to come pick her up. Blaine and Kurt had already driven back to Dalton so there was no way they'd be coming past anytime soon. She was completely and utterly screwed.

"Hello!" Rachel desperately called out, hoping that maybe someone would hear her cries. When no one suddenly appeared out of thin air she realised that she was stuck. She knew that if no cars came past soon (As much as she hated to admit it she would probably have to hitch a ride home if one came by) then she would have to walk miles back on her own into town, something that wasn't really ideal because of the fact that the sun was setting now and it was beginning to get fairly dark. Rachel was about to give up and start walking when she finally saw a truck driving towards her. She immediately began waving and jumping up and down to catch their attention. Thankfully she was successful since the driver of the truck pulled up in front of her and the door swung open, revealing a tall lanky figure. Rachel blinked as she suddenly recognised the young man in front of her. He was the lead singer of the New Directions.

"Hi there, need some help?" he asked her smiling, showing off those adorable cheek dimples. The brunette found herself blushing and nodding.

"That would be great, my cars broke down and my cell isn't working. I really need a lift or else I'll have to walk and that's not a good idea because it's dark outside and my daddies warned me about creepy guys waiting in dark alleys that want to grab me and do all sorts of terrible things to a Jewish girl like me" Rachel babbled and the tall boy smiled at her more.

"We couldn't have that" He told her."I recognise you. You're Rachel Berry of Vocal Adrenaline, aren't you?" The girl blinked with surprise at his recognition.

"That's right. You're the lead singer of New Directions. I'm sorry but I don't know your name" Rachel told him apologetically.

"It's Finn. Finn Hudson" he informed her."I'll give you a lift. We're both heading into Lima anyway and I can get my step-dad to sort out your car for you tomorrow if you like?"

"Thanks, that's very generous of you Finn" Rachel smiled at him graciously before allowing him to help her into the passenger's seat of his truck. She waited as he got back into the driver's seat and closed the door before putting the keys back into the ignition.

"You locked your car didn't you?" Finn asked her and she nodded.

"I should have rang for my car to be towed but like I said my phone isn't working"

"Here use mine. I don't want anything to happen to your car until tomorrow" Finn told her and passed her his cell phone. Rachel accepted it gratefully before ringing for her car to be moved. After she had finished she gave the boy his phone back and showed how grateful she was.

"Thank you so much for this. I wasn't sure what I was going to do until you showed up" she told him and he grinned at her.

"Happy to help a talented star like yourself" he winked as he drove them past the welcome to Lima sign. Rachel blushed at his words.

"You're very talented yourself. You have a wonderful voice and judging from your performance at the hospital I can see that you love what you do" she told him sincerely.

"I do" Finn confirmed before frowning."Back at my school glee isn't very popular and we're always getting slushied and bullied. I use to be one of those bullies who thought glee was for losers – I'm on the football team and they pretty much rule the school at McKinley – and until I joined I had no idea what I was missing out on. Now it's like my second family. I wouldn't change it for anything"

"That sounds nice" Rachel said before adding "Not the slushies I mean but the fact that glee is like family to you at your school. Vocal Adrenaline is nothing like a family. I mean in some ways it is" Rachel thought of her mother at that part before continuing "But overall we're all barely even friends. We're just there to show off our talent and bring back trophies to our school. Glee at our school is the most popular thing there and we rule the school over all the sports team and clubs but it can feel kind of lonely if you think about it enough. I'm the star of the glee club at Carmel but I have no friends at all there"

"I don't get that. You seem really nice and your voice is amazing" Finn told her meaning it. Rachel looked at him embarrassed. She couldn't believe she just opened herself up like that with a guy that was mostly a stranger to her technically.

"I'm sorry to unload all that on you. I'm not that lonely actually. I have a best friend and his new friend's become my friend as well" the brunette smiled at him."And thanks for the compliment. I know that I'm extremely talented but it's always nice to hear it from someone else"

"It's refreshing to meet someone who doesn't pretend that they're modest or aren't as sweet as they look" Finn said as he began driving past a row of houses.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked him confused.

"I mean that you're totally honest and not afraid to be yourself. I admire that" Finn admitted with a genuine smile. One of the first he had displayed in a while but Rachel had no way of knowing that."Where do you live? I'll drop you off" he changed the subject noticing the intense way that Rachel was staring at him and feeling slightly uncomfortable by the attention. The brunette obliged his change of subject by telling him where she lived and he was startled that she lived so much closer to McKinley than she did Carmel.

When he asked she looked distinctly uncomfortable for a moment before confessing. "I could tell from the lack of care and funding that your glee club got at McKinley that it wouldn't be popular or a great glee club so I decided to go somewhere that my star would be nurtured and allowed to shine. Now here I am in Vocal Adrenaline" she shrugged.

"You were probably right to go to Carmel. Your way too good for a place like McKinley where someone like you would probably never be appreciated and no offense but everyone else would probably be so jealous of your talent and the fact that you'll get out of Lima that they'd be bully you and slushy you to the extreme" Finn replied to her as he drove up her street and she gave him a concerned look.

"I'm sorry if that happens to you" she said."You seem like a great guy, Finn. I bet your girlfriend is lucky to have you"

"I don't have a girlfriend, not anymore and when I did I don't think she thought so" he admitted sounding sad and Rachel hated to hear that tone in his voice. She looked at his expression and it seemed so sad that it made Rachel think of a kicked puppy. That was how he looked and Rachel just felt like hugging him (which was probably strange considering they'd only just really met) but didn't obviously.

"What happened?" Rachel asked him, hoping he wouldn't think she was being nosy although she knew she was. She wanted to know more about Finn Hudson. He interested her in a way that Jesse never had even though she still cared deeply for her ex-boyfriend and probably would always love him in some way.

"She cheated on me with my best friend and got pregnant" Finn replied, sounding as if he was having a difficult time getting the words out. Rachel felt a wave of anger on his behalf. How could someone do something like that to someone as nice and kind as Finn?

"That's horrible" Rachel told him."She clearly didn't appreciate you, Finn and you deserve better than that"

"Thanks" Finn gave her a minor smile to let her know he was okay."What about you? Have you got a boyfriend in the picture?"

"I used to but unfortunately he didn't treat me in a way that star of my calibre deserved so I broke up with him last week" Rachel informed him simply and as he pulled up Rachel's drive way, Rachel found herself feeling relatively disappointed that their car ride was about to come to an end. After tonight she'd probably rarely see Finn again and when she did they would be competing against one another.

"You deserve to be appreciated as well, Rachel. At least you can see that and do something about it. You're brave. I wasn't brave enough to leave my girlfriend until something big happened to split us up. The truth is we weren't working and I wasn't happy with her but I never had the guts to break up with her until she cheated. Maybe she was doing me a favour in the end" Finn shrugged and stopped the car when he had made it the front of her drive.

"I think she was. Anyway thanks for the ride, Finn. It was really nice talking to you. I haven't met someone that I could talk to this way in a while. I'm surprised it was so easy" the brunette star of Vocal Adrenaline told him as she unbuckled her seat belt. Before she could leave, Finn grabbed her hand with his own much to both of their surprise. He looked at her awkward for a moment before smiling at her.

"Goodnight, Rachel. I guess I'll see you at Regional's. I'll ask Burt to sort out your car tomorrow" he said to her with a soft expression on his face.

"Goodnight, Finn. Thank you" she replied before smiling back at him and taking her hand back. Finn blushed realising he had still been holding it but Rachel didn't comment on it as she stepped out of the car. She stood at her front porch and watch Finn drive away into the distance and inwardly only they weren't rivals then maybe Rachel Berry could have fallen for someone like Finn Hudson but since he was competition she knew she had to stay away.

Sighing, Rachel walked into her house and was immediately greeted by her dads who had been worried that she was so late home. After explaining to them what had happened she made her way up to her bedroom and got into bed. As she slept she dreamt of brown eyes and dimples and a voice that made her heart skip a beat.


	6. Chapter Six: Case of the ex

**Author's Note: Okay so it turns out that I had time to write a long chapter this week! Longest chapter yet in fact, lol. I hope you enjoy it. I apologise now if any of the characters are OCC, I have a history of having difficulty writing them in character sometimes and remember this is AU and the characters are slightly different because their history has changed (more or less despite the major things still being there such as Quick's pregnancy) and I'm trying to write them as in character as possible. **

**Also sorry if Finchel seem like they are moving too fast. Firstly, remember its entirely possible to crush on someone you've only just met, I know I have before!. And anyway this isnt going to be a instant love at first sight kind of story. Things are going to slow right down very soon. Almost to a stand still...anyway enjoy what you get of them for now :).  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

For the first time ever, Rachel had really hated the first practice of the week with Vocal Adrenaline. Normally she eagerly anticipated practices and would be the first one there but Jesse had decided to make things complicated for her by ignoring her and purposely dropping her during lifts or making her stumble so she would look bad. Shelby had noticed and had yelled at Jesse a few times but the rest of the team glared at Rachel and blamed her. Mostly because Rachel knew that they all adored Jesse and he was more popular than her. He had most of the team on his side because they were all his friends and had only put up with Rachel because she was the star of their team and Shelby clearly adored her for some reason they didn't know.

The brunette was also targeted because Jesse used to date the former female lead of Vocal Adrenaline – Tiffany Gilmore. She was blonde and beautiful and shot Rachel frosty glares whenever she saw her. She hated Rachel for stealing her position on the team and her boyfriend and as soon as the two of them had broke up, she had snatched the opportunity to get everyone to side with Jesse and make things uncomfortable for Rachel. The brunette was really starting to hate it. Practice had gone badly and although she knew her solos had been amazing (that would never change) the dancing had been disastrous because of the rest of the team's unprofessional attitudes towards her. Rachel was quite frankly appalled that they were willing to risk their chances of winning Regional's by messing their practice up so badly just so that they could get back at her. She was disappointed in all of them. She knew they weren't her friends but they were still her team mates and they should be helping her to perform better, not bring her down.

After practice had come to an end, Rachel's day got considerably brighter when her cell phone went off. She had just been in the midst of changing back into her street clothes when she heard her familiar ringtone blast from her school bag.

"Rachel Barbara Berry speaking" the brunette said formally into her cell phone.

"Nice name" a familiar voice chuckled at the other side of the line and the brunette tried not to tense up with excitement.

"Hi Rachel, its Finn"

"I recognise your voice" Rachel smiled to herself before asking"How did you get my cell phone number?"

"I rang your home number and your dad gave it to me it" Finn informed her."I just thought I should tell you that your car's ready to be picked up. It's waiting for you at Burt's garage. If you need directions I can give them to you"

"No that's okay I know where it is. I do live in Lima after all and it's a terribly small town" Rachel told him whilst thinking of how sweet and thoughtful he was."Do you know what was wrong with my car?"

"Yeah you ran out of gas. In future I suggest you make sure you've filled your tank before driving a few miles out of town" Finn replied and Rachel felt herself blush. How could she have been so stupid? She should have known her car needed a refill.

"Well thank goodness it's nothing serious, no wonder it didn't take long to repair. I'll stop by right now. I'll just ask my...director...to drop me off" she said, feeling too awkward to call Shelby her mother.

"Okay, I'll see you soon then Rachel Barbra Berry" Finn said with a chuckle. Rachel blushed again before hanging up and adding Finn's number to her contacts.

She knew that it was silly to have feelings for someone she hardly knew but Finn was not like anyone else she had ever known. He had treated her with kindness and respect and looked at her like she was another human being worth his time and not some freak that should just disappear or fall down a big dark hole somewhere (Tiffany's words, not hers). He had an amazing gift and he barely seemed to know it, Rachel also thought that it helped that he was incredibly cute with his cheek dimples and friendly, boyish smiles that made her heart flutter like a pair of butterfly wings.

After finishing getting changed into her mini skirt, blouse and blue cardigan, she grabbed her school bag before leaving. As she was walking out of the building, she felt tingles go up her spine as she felt someone follow her out. She was just about to start making her way over to Shelby's car when a hand touched her shoulder and she screamed as she jumped out of her skin. When she turned around she saw her former boyfriend smirking at her.

"Relax Rachel it's just me" he chuckled, ignoring her dark glare."You are still so easy to scare, I see"

"I'm still a lot of things, Jesse. We've been broken up for a week, not been living on different planets" Rachel informed him huffily.

"Well it has felt like we have. I have missed you so much" Jesse told her, stroking her cheek with his hand. She felt like slapping it off but couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I have missed spending time with you too, Jesse but I do feel that this separation has been good for me and I have no intention of getting back with you" Rachel told him plainly."I made the decision for us to break up for a reason"

"Not a very good one" Jesse told her, frowning."We were so good together, Rachel. Nothing can change that. You belong with me"

"No, I don't "Rachel said firmly, finally shaking his hand off her. "And if you thought that by acting like a complete jerk towards me in practice was going to get my attention somehow, you thought wrong. You need to leave me alone"

"I'm not going to give up fighting for you, Rachel" Jesse told her, moving closer towards her. Rachel took a step back and gave him a sad look.

"Why can't you respect my wishes, Jesse? If you truly loved me, you would let me go and not keep trying to hang onto me like I'm some kind of trophy"

"I do love you, Rachel and you can't see it right now but the only way both of us can be truly happy is by being together" he told her stubbornly, not backing down. Rachel decided it was time to just walk away. Jesse may not listen to what she was trying to tell him but someday he would finally get the hint and stop chasing after her. She wasn't going back to him; she had made her mind up about that.

"I will see you tomorrow, Jesse" the brunette said simply before walking away. She stepped into the passenger's seat of her mother's car where Shelby waited for her with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you alright?" she asked and Rachel merely sighed and gave her a small smile.

"I will be. Just drop me off at Burt's garage, please"

"Sure, Rachel" Shelby replied before driving away from Carmel high and into Lima.

They rode in silence for the majority of the fifteen minute ride to the garage and only discussed things that had happened at school and practice. They didn't mention Jesse. Shelby could tell that her daughter was in no mood to speak about her ex, no matter how concerned she was for her especially after seeing the way Jesse treated her at practice. Their conversation ended however when she pulled up at the garage. "I'll see you at school tomorrow honey"

"Thank you for the ride" Rachel replied politely before waving Shelby off.

As she turned towards the garage she saw a familiar tall boy walking outside. When he saw Rachel he immediately began to grin at her, making her heart speed up. She tried not to walk too hastily towards him as she didn't want to appear desperate.

"Hello, Finn. Thank you for calling me" Rachel said to the tall boy, smiling at him.

"No problem, I wanted to make sure that you had a car to drive around in. I couldn't let a tiny girl like yourself get attacked on the way to school or something because you didn't have your car" Finn answered her, sounding genuinely concerned. Rachel felt touched. In all her time of dating Jesse, he never seemed particularly concerned for her safety.

"That's so sweet Finn, thank you but I was getting lifts with my...with my director" Rachel told him and he looked at her curiously for a moment before responding.

"That's so weird. I don't think Mr Schuester would give any of us a lift to school. Your director must be so cool" he said and Rachel blushed, not feeling quite ready to confide such personal information with him yet.

"I guess so. Anyway I should get home. Can I see my car?" Rachel asked him, changing subject. Finn smiled at her and nodded before leading her into the garage where an older, bald man was standing next to her car. He smiled at her as they came in.

"You must be Rachel. Your cars filled up with gas so it should be fine now but in future you need to remember to refill your tank before driving miles out of town" the man she assumed to be Burt told her and Rachel blushed prettily.

"I don't usually forget sir but it was good of you to fix my car for me on such short notice and so quickly" Rachel answered him gratefully."How much do I owe you?" Burt glanced at her surprised for a moment before looking at Finn who spoke on behalf of Burt.

"You don't owe him anything. I paid for the gas out of my own money" Finn explained and Rachel glanced at him startled.

"Finn, you shouldn't have" she exclaimed, embarrassed. Finn shrugged at her.

"It was nothing"

"Finn" she sighed."How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing, I don't want you to pay me back. I wanted to help you because we're friends now and that's what friends do for each other" Finn said to her softly and Rachel looked at him with wide doe brown eyes, surprised by his words.

"We're friends now?"She asked and he looked at her uncertain, wondering for a moment if he was creeping her out by wanting to be her friend already in the little time he had known her.

"I want to be your friend as long as you want to be mine. I don't care if we're competing against each other. I'll be competing against my own step-brother someday"

"I would love to be your friend!" Rachel blurted out excitedly.

"Great" Finn threw her one of his boyish smiles and she felt like she was going to melt. This day had suddenly got a lot brighter thanks to Finn.

"Anyway thank you so much for your help, Mr Hummel" Rachel told the smirking man behind Finn as she remembered his last name that Finn had told her that night on the drive home.

"No problem, honey" he said before walking a few feet away and looking away to give them some privacy.

"Thank you, Finn for being so sweet and for being my friend" the brunette smiled at him before giving him an impulsive hug that took the taller of the two by surprise. Awkwardly they pulled away and Rachel gave him one last dazzling smile before getting into her car and pulling out of the garage. Finn watched, mesmerised, as Rachel's car faded away into the distance. He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice Burt approach him from behind.

"Rachel seems like a nice girl. She seems a lot different to Quinn Fabray that's for sure" Burt remarked and Finn gave him a dreamy smile.

"She is but I think that's good. Rachel wouldn't be the type to get pregnant and make me think that I'm the dad to trap me into being in a relationship" he said and Burt gave him a knowing look.

"You hardly know her but you like her a lot. In fact you have a crush on her don't you?" he asked his step-son who looked at Burt both embarrassed and surprised.

"How did you know? Are you like physic or something?"

"No but I know the feeling. I felt that way about your mother when Kurt first introduced us" Burt grinned at him and slapped Finn's arm before getting back to work on one of the other cars that had been sent into the garage.

Finn stood where he was and found himself unable to pull out of his thoughts of the dark haired, doe eyed girl with the tiny body but the large voice and even larger personality.

* * *

><p>It was a day later and Rachel found herself rushing out of class. She was eager to escape the glares and snide comments made by Jesse's Vocal Adrenaline friends and his former girlfriend. She was also keen on getting home so that she could make her new my space video. She hadn't made one in ages but Finn had inspired her song choice for that week and she was in the mood. However before she could make her way out of the school she was stopped by Shelby blocking her path. Rachel wondered what she wanted since as far as she knew there was no practice for vocal adrenaline that day and Shelby had already made their weekend arrangements a few days ago.<p>

"Rachel, I need to talk to you in my office" the older woman told her gently, looking at her with concern. Rachel frowned before following her mother into her spacious office that was located close to the principal's office. When they stepped in, Shelby offered Rachel a seat on the leather sofa that was squashed into the room. The brunette sat down with her mother seated next to her.

"What's this about?" she asked the older woman curiously."I have completed this week's assignment for glee so I know that it can't be about that"

"It's nothing to do with glee" Shelby confirmed before continuing "It's about Jesse"

"Don't tell me that he's been saying stuff to you about me? This harassment is going way over the top. One day he will finally see that no matter what he does, I am not getting back together with him!" Rachel ranted furiously but stopped when she saw that Shelby was looking at her strangely.

"Rachel, Jessie's in the hospital" she informed her daughter seriously and Rachel's angry expression immediately softened.

"What? I noticed that he wasn't in class today but I thought he was skipping them as usual. I mean Trevor the Asian guy was in every class doing Jesse's work for him as usual" the younger girl exclaimed with surprise.

"He got into a terrible fight last night and ended up in hospital with horrible injuries. He'll recover but he's been asking to see you all day apparently. His parents would like you to come to visit him" Shelby informed Rachel who looked at her uncertainly.

"I'm not sure I feel too comfortable about that. I mean I care about him and hope that he'll be fine but how do I know he won't try to use this to get me to go back to him?" confessed Rachel, feeling ashamed for not wanting to visit her hurt and hospitalised ex-boyfriend.

"You don't, honey" Shelby told her sympathetically."But at the end of the day he's your friend and your team mate and you should go see him even if it's not what you want"

"I know" the brunette sighed."I just wished that he hadn't been stupid enough to get into a fight - how did that happen anyway?"

"He got drunk at some sleazy bar in Lima, that apparently serves underaged teenagers and got into some confrontation with a boy from that New Direction's show choir" Shelby informed Rachel who looked appalled.

"Who was it that he fought with?" she wanted to know hoping that it wasn't Finn and that if it was, he would be alright.

"Some kid named Noah Puckerman. He's apparently a regular at the bar Jesse went to" the show choir director replied."Apparently Jesse recognised him and began insulting him. Noah was already drunk and Jesse was half way there himself and before anyone knew what was happening the kids were fighting and they then ended up smashing through the glass window of the bar and landing on the street. It was lucky both of them didn't end up in even worst states than they were in"

"I can't believe Jesse would do something like that – why was he even at the bar to begin with when he's not even legal?" Rachel demanded, her eyes flashing with annoyance at her ex boyfriends delinquent behaviour.

"According to his parents they said Jesse was there because he needed to distract himself from the misery of his break up with you. He decided that drink was the best way to get you off his mind" Shelby explained and Rachel looked incredulous although she also felt guilty. She felt guilt over the fact that Jesse had felt bad enough that he had to do something so stupid and out of character as this and now he was in the hospital because of her.

"I should see him. This is my fault" the teenager sighed and her mother looked at her gently before squeezing her hand.

"This isn't your fault but you should go and see him" she advised Rachel gently."I know you two haven't been getting along much since the break up but you've cared for Jesse for far too long to allow this to get in the way of potentially rebuilding a friendship"

"You are right. I'll go to see him and try to get our friendship back on track. If he wants more then I will also have to make it clear it's not happening" Rachel said firmly, standing up having now made her decision. Shelby saw her to her car and watched as her daughter began to drive up to the hospital. She only hoped that she had made the right decision advising her to see Jesse. She knew that boy would try and use his situation to his advantage but she could only hope Rachel would stick to her resolve and not give in.

* * *

><p>Finn was more than angry when he got a call from Puck's mother asking him to come down to the hospital. She had to have known that Finn was barely even speaking to Puck since the whole baby gate disaster had occurred but apparently that hadn't stopped her from begging her son's childhood best friend into coming down to the hospital to visit him. According to Mrs Puckerman, Noah needed his best friend right now even if they were on bad terms. She hated the fact that her son seemed to get into more trouble now he didn't have Finn's calming presence around him anymore. Finn had wanted to retort that it was a shame that Puck had to sleep with his girlfriend because then they might still be friends, but he'd kept the biting words to himself and drove up to the hospital after school. He didn't know what the idiot had done now but clearly it hadn't ended well for him. Finn wanted to ignore the rush of concern he felt for the Jewish boy but try as he might he couldn't deny that he was worried for his former friend. When he arrived in the foyer, Mrs Puckerman was there waiting already and as soon as she saw Finn she stood up and hugged him.<p>

"My stupid boy is in room 111. Quinn is with him right now but I'm sure that he wants to see you" Mrs Puckerman cried and Finn felt angry with the woman for ambushing him into coming here and then being forced to see his ex girlfriend and best friend together. He took a deep breath however and forced himself to just suck it up. When he arrived outside of the room he knocked on the door before opening it. Finn walked in to see Quinn stroking Pucks arm lovingly. Finn raised an eyebrow. She never acted like that with him...shaking it off, Finn coughed and the two looked up and glanced at him with surprise and shock. They had never expected Finn to show up he gathered from the expressions on their faces.

"Hudson what are you doing here? My mother didn't call you did she?" Puck scowled. Finn glared back at him.

"She did otherwise I wouldn't be here right now forcing to see the results of whatever stunt you've pulled now" he retorted.

"I was drunk last night and got my ass handed to me by some punk from Vocal Adrenaline" Puck snapped and Finn only just realised how injured his friend appeared to be. He had cuts all over his face and a black eye along with a broken arm that was covered in a cast that Quinn had already signed.

"Sweetie you promised me that you wouldn't go out and do something completely idiotic ever again" Quinn snapped at him, clearly angry."You had me so worried"

"Fabray please don't make this harder on me. I already hurt all over and have a killer headache. I don't need you being angry at me as further punishment" Puck said giving her his sweetest look. Quinn looked at him annoyed for one moment before rolling her eyes and sighing.

"What am I going to do with you?" she said before standing up and looking at Finn and back at Puck."I'll leave you two guys alone to talk" Puck watched as the girl he loved walked out of the room and left him alone with his former best friend who hated his guts and was most likely taking great pleasure in seeing him in such a mess.

"You're an idiot and you betrayed me. You don't know loyalty if it hit you in the face" Finn said angrily as he sat down in the chair that Quinn had just vacated."I want to hate you so much, Puck, for what you did to me, for how you and Quinn humiliated me but for some reason I can't. I'm angry but I don't hate you, I don't think I ever could. I just want to know why you did it"

"I did it because I'm a punk and like you said, I'm no good at loyalty even when it comes to my bros" Puck sighed before continuing "and most importantly I've always been in love with your girlfriend. I could clearly see you weren't all that into her and I took the first opportunity I could to be with her even though it seemed like she was sort of happy with you"

"What do you mean she was only sort of happy with me?" Finn asked, looking confused and a little hurt. Puck glared at him.

"You weren't there for her, man. You were attracted to her and you liked having a popular girlfriend but you didn't love her like she deserved. I was in love with her. I've been in love with her the first time I laid eyes on her and heard her stupid ass laugh. By the time I intended to ask her out she was already dating you and I was too late" Finn was startled and completely thrown by the look on Noah's face. It was abundantly clear to the taller boy that his best friend truly loved and had feelings for the blonde former cheerleader. Finn could honestly say he had never felt that way for Quinn and Puck was right. He was drawn to her looks and popularity but not to who she was on the inside like Puck was. Plus this was the first time his former best friend had ever admitted to having real feelings for one girl. Suddenly Finn felt a whole load of guilt wash over him as he realised that whilst Quinn and Puck had been wrong to lie to him and cheat on him, Finn did have a part in the whole mess and wasn't entirely innocent.

"How did it feel when you first saw her?" Finn suddenly found himself asking, swallowing deeply.

"I felt like I'd been punched in the gut" Puck admitted. "When I first saw Quinn it was like the whole room suddenly disappeared and all I could see was her. I'd never felt anything remotely like that for any of the thousands of girls I'd been with before. It was like magic or some other crap like that. Anyway don't repeat any of what I have just said to anyone Hudson or I will have to kill you. I don't want people thinking I've grown a vagina"

"Don't worry your secret's safe with me, Puck" Finn replied and suddenly the two former friends began smirking at each other and it was like the whole betrayal had never happened. As Puck moved the conversation on to other things such as the new halo game for x-box, Finn briefly remembered the way that he had felt the first moment he had seen Rachel Berry and compared it to Puck's words, realising what Puck had said was the exact same way he had felt towards the lead singer that night.

Inwardly groaning, Finn realised that he was in deep trouble. He might not be in love with Rachel yet but he was quickly becoming obsessed over her.

* * *

><p>When Rachel arrived at the hospital she felt her stomach churn with nerves and concern. Nerves because she was about to see Jesse's parents for the first time since their break up and the two of them had been planning their wedding since they had gotten together. They loved Rachel and still had hopes that they would get back together someday. The last thing that Rachel needed was both of Jesse's parents and Jesse ganging up on her to make her feel pressured into agreeing to date Jesse again. That was the last thing she wanted. She felt concern for obvious reasons and hoped that Jesse hadn't gotten too badly beaten up.<p>

As she parked her car and stepped out onto the pavement, the future Broadway star told herself to stay firm and to not let anyone make her second guess her decision and that Jesse was definitely not good for her. She walked through the front doors of the hospital and wasn't too startled when she was immediately engulfed into a warm embrace from Mrs St James and a warm hug from her husband.

"I am so glad you made it, Rachel. Jesse has been dying to see you all day. He thinks that only you will be able to make him feel better, bless him" Susie St James cooed over thoughts of her own son. Rachel resisted the urge to roll her eyes because she could tell that this was definitely the St James family taking advantage of a bad situation to try and get Rachel to draw closer to Jesse again.

"What room is he in?" Rachel asked politely, ignoring Susie's coos.

"120, he's expecting you" Jesse's dad informed her and she thanked him before disappearing down the corridors to find the room. When she made it, she didn't bother knocking before walking straight in. She raised her eyebrows when she saw Jesse sitting up in the bed with a cast on his leg and bruises all over his face.

"Rachel, it's so good to see you. I've been so inconsolable since the Doctor's told me that I broke my leg and I may not be able to perform at Regional's" he said melodramatically and Rachel grew irritated. He was expecting her to feel sorry for him after he had gone out and started a fight with some drunken unsuspecting member of New Directions.

"I know what happened to you, Jesse. If you hadn't gotten into that fight with Noah Puckerman then you wouldn't be in this mess right now" Rachel pointed out as she took a seat next to his bed. Jesse held out his hand and looked at her, expecting her to take it. When she didn't, Jesse pouted like a child that hadn't gotten his own way.

"Rachel I was only there because I was drinking away my sorrows over you. You broke my heart and I had to distract myself somehow. It's indirectly your fault that I'm here right now. If you agree to take me back, however, I will readily forgive you" he told her and Rachel's eyes grew wide with disbelief.

"I'm sorry Jesse but our relationship was over a long time ago. We're not suited for one another and if you really cared about me you'd let me go. I know you want to fight for me but there is nothing left for you to fight for. I don't love you anymore" Rachel told him firmly and was surprised when she realised that was the truth. She honestly did love him but it wasn't at all like it used to be. Where there was once a fiery passion was now a dim spark that was fading quickly and where there used to be attraction there was nothing left at all. The romantic love that she had felt for her former boyfriend had completely transformed into a friendship kind of love.

"You don't mean that" Jesse exclaimed, looking shocked and hurt.

"I honestly do. I love you as a friend but I don't feel the same way as I used too. I'm sixteen, nearly seventeen years old. You can't have expected that you'd be my only great love. You will always be my first love, Jesse and I won't forget that ever but you're not my true love. I'm sorry if this is hurting you but it's true. The only reason that I'm here right now is because I want to be your friend. I hope that you will want that too and will respect my feelings on this matter" the petite diva sighed and knew Jesse's answer to her offer of friendship right away when she saw the furious look on his face.

"I think you should leave, Rachel" he instructed her coldly and Rachel felt stung. She had truly thought that he would have at least wanted to be friends but she could see now that was never going to be in the cards for them.

"Alright, I will" she agreed softly before getting up and exiting his hospital room.

Just as she began to walk down the corridor with tears shining in her eyes another door opened as she was passing and a familiar figure stepped out.

"Rachel" the girl herself turned around and looked startled when she saw Finn standing there looking confused."What are you doing here?"

"I was visiting somebody" she replied, trying to hold back the tears that were about to fall from her eyes."I'm guessing that your here for Noah Puckerman?"

"Yeah how'd you know?" Finn asked her as he followed her down the corridor.

"He...he got into a fight with my team mate" Rachel confessed as they made their way into the foyer."He's in hospital with some bad injuries"

"I'm sorry, I hope he's okay" he said to Rachel, who was on the verge of crying although Finn didn't seem to notice, thankfully.

"He will be. I'm sorry but I really need to go" the brunette told Finn quickly before brushing past him with her head held down so that Jesse's parents noticed her.

As he watched her leave, Finn wondered why Rachel was being so weird. He just hoped it wasn't anything that he had done.


	7. Chapter Seven: Turning Tables

**Author's Note: I am so sorry for the lack of updates. I am still alive, I promise. I have this thing where I lose inspiration and motivation for a period of time before I start writing again. I can't promise I'll update this quickly but I'll try to make it less than 2 months this time!.**

**Oh and thanks for all the reviews, I love hearing from you all :).  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

It had been an entire two weeks since Rachel had gone to visit Jesse in the hospital and an entire two weeks since she had spoken to Finn. She knew that she was an awful person for ignoring the sweet boy that had been nothing but kind towards her but her feelings were all over the place right now and she had needed the time to think.

First of all, Rachel felt ashamed. She felt ashamed for hurting Jesse and for feeling such strong things for Finn when she hardly even knew him and for being able to confide in him all the things that she should have felt like she could have talked to Jesse about but never had been able to. She felt slightly scared at the speed that her feelings were developing for Finn at. She didn't know if it was because she was not used to receiving such kindness or attention from someone or a boy like him before or if it was because she was on the rebound because of her split from Jesse but all she knew was that her feelings were strong and had quickly begun to overwhelm her.

Rachel knew that she was infatuated with Finn but she wasn't sure how long it would be until she was more than just infatuated with him and she needed time to sort through her feelings for Jesse and her messed up thoughts before allowing herself to freefall into a new love with her adorably tall show choir rival.

And that was just another complication to add to all of her current drama.

She was having a friendship, a growing crush and was deeply attracted to the lead singer of her show choir's biggest rivals. If the rest of the team and especially Jesse (who by now had begun to recover and was back to rehearsing with the team, albeit not dancing with the broken leg, and throwing glares and rude remarks at Rachel at any given opportunity, once again playing hot and cold with her heart. She knew that he would never really change so she was glad she had not allowed him to guilt trip her back into a relationship) ever found out they would do whatever they had to stop Rachel from ever seeing Finn and they would probably goes as far as attacking the other team and causing as much trouble for them as they possible could and that was the last thing that Rachel wanted. She didn't want to hurt or harm or humiliate Finn's team and friends and if she had to lock her feelings away and distance herself from Finn for his own protection as well as for his team then she would do that, no matter how painful it would be for her.

"Rachel?" Rachel glanced up from where she was lying back on her bed with her I-pod playing Adele's turning tables in her ears as she lost herself in her thoughts and noticed that her daddy, Hiram, was standing in the doorway smiling at her. She quickly took out her earphones to respond to him.

"Yes daddy?"

"You have a visitor, sweetie" he informed her and Rachel hopped off her bed with a frown. Blaine had been over earlier and had not shut up for one second about Kurt Hummel, making it increasingly obvious that he had developed a strong crush on the boy but was not willing to do anything about it. After he had left, Rachel hated to admit it but she had been relieved. It had been hard hearing him go on about his crush on Kurt while she was so conflicted and confused about her own and just wanted to be left alone for a while so she could think...the way she had been for the past two weeks.

So as she stepped out of her doorway she knew that the visitor could not be Blaine. Feeling her stomach churn, Rachel prayed that it wasn't Jesse. He was definitely the last person on Earth she wanted to see right now. The brunette prepared herself just in case but when she entered into her living room and saw a familiar face sitting on her sofa, she was pleasantly surprised. In fact her heart skipped a beat when she saw Finn waiting for her. He stood up as soon as he realised she had entered the room and gave her a nervous look as he began to speak.

"Hi, Rachel...I know this may be kind of weird and random me being here and you might think I'm some kind of creepy stalker or something but you haven't been returning any of my calls since that day in the hospital and I just wanted to know if it was something that I did?"

"No, no, it wasn't about you..." Rachel immediately said, feeling guilty and more ashamed for making Finn think that he had done something wrong."It was all me. I was feeling confused and I needed some time to think about some stuff without adding anymore confusion to my confusion...if that makes sense at all to you"

"I'm confusing you?" Finn asked, looking unsurprisingly confused about Rachel's words.

"No, it's just...well, it's Jesse" she said, taking a deep breath. She knew that she had been a horrible friend for ignoring Finn for two weeks so he at least deserved an explanation. "We dated not that long ago, remember I mentioned that I had a boyfriend that didn't treat me like a star, such as I, deserved?" Finn nodded and his eyes widened as he realised that it was Jesse St James, the amazing lead of vocal adrenaline that she had dated and not just some random jerk.

"Well I broke up with him for a reason and ever since then he's been making me feel guilty and confused. He blows hot and cold towards me and when he's nice, he's really sweet and I remember why I loved him but when he's being...well cold you could say, he is nothing but self-centred and arrogant and does not seem to appreciate me whatsoever and until I met you, I thought that was how all relationships were meant to be like and I decided that I'd rather be alone than feeling the way I was with Jesse. But then I met you and I knew that it was Jesse who had the problem and not everyone was like that but after he ended up in hospital-"

"Hold on, Jesse was the team mate that fought Puck?" Finn asked in disbelief and looked incredulous when Rachel nodded and continued speaking.

"After he ended up in hospital I felt like I owed it to him to see him especially since he kept asking for me and then I ran into his parents who have always wanted us to end up together and eventually married and seeing them made me feel like such a awful person for breaking up with him, like it was my fault he got into that fight and was in the hospital and then I spoke to Jesse who basically was trying to guilt me into agreeing to date him again but when I said no and stood my ground he turned back into cold Jesse and ever since then rehearsals have been awkward and I've felt like falling apart. I can't stand to work with a team that hates me and always sides with Jesse when things turn sour between the two of us and I feel even more confused about you!" Rachel finally ran out of breath from her rant, her eyes filling up with tears.

"Why do you feel confused about me?" Finn asked, looking curious and slightly hopeful.

"Because I like you and I know you feel the connection between the two of us which is unexplainable and so complicated but we can't do anything about this thing between us because of our loyalties to our teams and there's the fact I am still trying to heal from Jesse. I am not ready for another relationship and I don't want to lose the friendship we've built. You mean way too much to me for me to risk that out of my own selfish desires" she responded and Finn gave her a soft smile that made her heart melt like butter on the spot as soon as it appeared on his face.

"I can see why you haven't been talking my calls recently. You've been busy thinking about all of this haven't you?" he asked her and when Rachel nodded he gave her a sad look."I like you too Rachel and I just wanted you to know that I will wait for you however long I have too. I have never felt anything like this for anyone before you and I think we could have something really special if we just gave it a shot. But if you need time, I get that and just know that I'll always be there if you need to call someone or need a friend. Please just don't keep on ignoring me; it really sucks when I don't get to hear your voice. I've missed you, Rachel as crazy as that might sound"

"That's not crazy at all, Finn. I have missed you two these past weeks. I just need time, alright? and I don't know how long that might be" she admitted and Finn nodded, although looking slightly disappointed.

"I should go...I guess. Regional's are in four weeks. I will see you then if I don't hear from you or see you before" Finn told her and then gave her a quick smile "Good luck with everything anyway. I hope that things with Jesse and vocal adrenaline will go okay for you"

"Thank you, Finn" Rachel replied touched for his concern before giving the tall boy a quick hug after walking him to the door."I'll see you at Regional's" Finn didn't respond or look back as he got into his truck.

Rachel stood at the doorway and gave his retreating figure a longing look. He deserved better than a confused, messed up, heartbroken diva who didn't know what it was that she wanted yet but still he came after her, was concerned about her even though he hardly even knew her and had yet to see the worst parts of her personality. The parts that even her best friend, Blaine could find annoying and he had the patience of a saint so that was saying something.

As she watched his car drive away, Rachel realised that she knew that she wanted to be more than friends with Finn but she was scared to let him get too close after Jesse. Jesse was the only one who could understand her personality flaws and was the only one who could put up with them. She was terrified that if she started to be fully herself around Finn, he would realise how selfish, dramatic, overbearing and obsessive she could really be and would run for the hills.

This was why she was going to take this time for herself to wonder if she was really going to brave enough to risk the connection she had with Finn but for an attraction, an infatuation that may only be fleeting or may only be there because of the thrill of the risk of seeing someone from the rival team, someone she knew would drive Jesse crazy with jealously and rage.

She needed to consider if she would be able to risk losing Finn because of her personality and if the risk would be worth it. Most importantly, Rachel wanted to make sure that she wanted to be in a relationship with Finn for the right reasons and not as a rebound for Jesse, because even though he was a jerk towards her, she had sincerely loved him with her whole heart and was only just beginning to let him go and surrender his place in her heart for someone else. She didn't want to jump into a relationship too quickly and she was glad that she had the common sense to do think about this and not be her usual, do first, think later self.

She had learnt her lesson from the time she had sent an old rival to a crack house and ended up in so much trouble for it and from the time that she had agreed to go to one of the Warblers dorm parties and had ended up getting drunk and making out with Blaine, her gay best friend of all people, much to the amusement of everybody. This was one thing that Rachel was going to think carefully about and weigh up the pros and cons. She refused to allow Finn to get hurt the way she had hurt Jesse because she was indecisive and confused.

"Rachel" the brunette was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of her dad, Hiram, who was standing right behind her and looking curious."Who was that boy? I've not seen him around here before"

"Oh he's just a friend from another school, daddy...it's nothing you need to be concerned about. I only just ended things with Jesse" she explained before running back up to her bedroom so that she could continue to think without anymore interruptions and to relax and listen to some Broadway tunes for a while. She soon found herself falling to sleep to the sound of 'I'm Not That Girl' from Wicked.

* * *

><p>The following day, Rachel found herself in rehearsals with vocal adrenaline once again and found herself butting heads with Tiffany Gilmore. "You're doing it all wrong, Rachel, you may be a brilliant singer but you dance like a rhythmless dolphin!" the blonde growled fiercely at the shorter girl.<p>

Rachel narrowed her brown eyes at her, feeling her temper begin to flare. She was doing all of the movements exactly right, she had impeccable dancing skills and rhythm thanks to her years of training since she was just three years old and Tiffany thought she had the right to criticise her. Everyone else could see that Rachel was doing everything right but Tiffany was out for blood and was not going to back down anytime soon.

"There is nothing wrong with my dancing but thank you for the unnecessary criticism about my performance. Maybe you should focus your energy on your own slightly subpar vocal ability rather than my dancing skills. It would be a much more productive use of your time" Rachel retorted and the other girl glared at her dangerously and took a few steps forward until she was towering directly over Rachel in an obvious attempt to intimidate her. Rachel didn't flinch. She was used to being towered over by bigger people and she refused to let Tiffany's threats get to her.

She knew it was because the blonde was protective and possessive about Jesse and was still disgruntled that he didn't want to get back with her even as a consolation prize from losing Rachel who had absolutely zero interest in getting back to him. Tiffany could never understand in a million years why someone would not want to be with Jesse St James when they had the chance. She would die for him to just look at her with affection for one second. It was a bit pathetic really, the obvious feelings she still harboured for him even after getting dumped.

"You know I never really understood what Jesse saw in you. You are an obnoxious, overbearing, egotistical, selfish little midget who hurts everyone around her including this team, all because she had gotten bored with Jesse, who has done nothing but adore you and love you and this is how you repay him" Tiffany sneered at her harshly and Rachel felt like she had been slapped across the face. She had taken her insecurities and displayed them for the whole world to see. The brunette forced herself to try and blink back the sting of tears that were building up in her eyes.

"You don't know anything about my relationship with Jesse" Rachel replied calmly, although inside she was wondering where Shelby had gone to and mentally begged for her to come back quickly and put a stop to Tiffany's tirade against her. The rest of the team were doing absolutely nothing, only standing to one side and enjoying the show. Jesse was not even in the room, having decided to go and practice his vocal exercises in the boy's changing rooms until Shelby returned.

"Maybe I don't know the specifics but I do know something" Rachel did not like the smug smile that had appeared on the blonde's face."I know that you happen to have a thing for the lead singer of New Directions" at her words, Rachel tried not to allow the panic to show on her face but she had a bad feeling she had failed since Tiffany's smile grew larger.

"That's not true. I don't know what you're talking about" Rachel denied, forcing her expression to remain blank and guarded.

"I'm sure you don't but I've seen the way you two look at each other and a little birdie told me that Finn Hudson was at your house last night but I am not sure if that is really true or not since my source isn't completely reliable, however, all I know is if I were to tell Jesse and the rest of the team my suspicions then I am pretty sure your position as the star of this team will be over before you can scream Broadway and you will become a social pariah at this school. Then what will you do? No Jesse, No lead role, no limelight, you will be just another loser who happens to be able to sing. So I seriously suggest you end whatever thing you have going on with that Hudson guy, get back with Jesse and do all you can to make him happy or else I will end you. Do you hear me?"

Rachel felt a lump foam in the back of her throat at the expression on Tiffany's face and the menacing, threatening tone in her voice. She knew that everything that Tiffany had said was true. She would not hesitate even for one moment to tell Jesse and the rest of the team what she had discovered and then Rachel's life as she knew it was over.

Rachel Berry lived for her role as vocal adrenaline's lead singer and there was no way she would be able to deal with being a social pariah at the school. Bad things happened to those on the bottom of the food chain at Carmel and the team was what protected her against all of that. She couldn't lose it. She couldn't afford to lose everything that she loved over something with Finn that she wasn't even confident she wanted to dive into in the first place. As much as it pained her and as much as she felt a strong connection with him, Rachel was going to have end whatever it was that they had going on including their friendship.

This wasn't just about her, however, because if Tiffany told the rest of their team then Finn would also need protecting since she was sure his team would find out from Jesse and everything in his life would most likely turn to hell and his friends would be angry at him just because of her. She wouldn't let that happen to him, she wasn't that selfish despite what everyone else thought about her and maybe in the end this was for the best. At least she hoped that Finn would think so.

* * *

><p>Finn was sitting on the sofa in the living room at his house when his cell phone started ringing. When he realised it was Rachel, he felt a jolt of excitement rush through his body and his heart began to race a little. Thankfully Kurt was at Dalton and wouldn't be home until the weekend and Burt and his mother had gone on a date so he was all alone and nobody would be around to eavesdrop.<p>

"Rachel, hi" Finn immediately said, wincing at the excitement in his tone of voice. He was making himself sound like a loser already and he'd barely said two words to her.

"Hello, Finn" she answered back, her soft voice sounding as velvety and sweet as honey.

"What's going on? I didn't expect to hear from you this soon" he admitted, hoping that she was about to tell him that she was more than ready to start something with him or at least go on a date. He hadn't actually asked her on one yet, he realised and decided that would be the first thing he did when she finished speaking.

"I am just ringing to tell you that I am sorry but I don't think we should carry on with our...friendship anymore" Rachel said and Finn felt like he had been sucker punched.

"What?"

"It's not you, it was never you. You've been nothing but sweet and an amazing friend and I wish I could be a better one to you but I can't. My team needs to come first, Finn and I can't jeopardise that for anyone, not even you and I am still so messed up over Jesse and I don't think I will be ready for a new romance for a long time. Don't wait for me, Finn. Move on. We come from two different worlds and we're rivals. It's best that this comes to an end now before either of us get hurt" Rachel told him, sounding sad and Finn felt anger rise up within him.

She had not even given this proper consideration. She had told him she had needed more time to think about things and left him with the impression that she was really into him but now it had been only one day since he had gone over to her house and now she had suddenly decided that it was wrong for them to even be friends. She had not been acting like this a few weeks ago.

"I don't get it. Where is this coming from?" Finn demanded, pacing the living room now, trying to resist the urge to throw the phone at the wall.

"It's coming from me. Things between us were moving way too fast and I have realised that I've been neglecting my team and they are the most important thing in my life. I need to focus on my music and vocal adrenaline before I attempt to start a relationship and when I do, I can't do it with you. I really do like you Finn and you deserve better than this, I didn't mean to lead you on, I'm sorry. I've got to go; I'm meeting my best friend for coffee. I'll see you at Regional's I guess. Please don't call me or come to see me"

Finn heard her hang up on him and stood in a stunned silence in his living room before slumping back down onto the sofa, feeling like he wanted to cry. He had not felt this hurt and confused since he had realised that Quinn wasn't carrying his baby but his best friend's. Depressed, he decided he needed something to take his mind off Rachel Berry, the girl who he had made an instant connection with and the girl who already had way too much power over him.

He picked up his cell phone and found the number he wanted to ring. He was relieved when the familiar voice answered.

"Hi Santana, is the offer that you made me still available?"


End file.
